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UNITED STATES' COMMISS 




POTAA^fATAMIE PAYMENT, 



September, 1§36. 



NEW-YORK 



1837. 



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New. York, December 2, 1837. 

To 

Hon. C. A. HARRIS, 

Commissioner op Indian Affairs. 

Sir, 

By your letter of instructions to me of the 20th April last, I was 
directed to inqLiire into the cause and origin of the difficulty which 
occurred at the payment of the annuity to the Potawatamie In. 
dians, in September 1836, and its results; and particularly whether 
the officers connected with your department had properly discharged 
their duty in the matter; and whether there was sufficient cause 
for calling out tlie troops. 

Pursuant to these instructions, on my arrival at Logansport, In- 
diana, in May last, I entered on the duty committed to me, by in. 
forming Col. Pepper of their nature, and submitting to his exami. 
nation the papers which you had transmitted to me. 

I gave to Gen. Grovcr a copy of the communication of the 
Chiels, in which he was implicated. 

I appointed the 13th of Jane a's the day on which the investiga. 
tion should commence, and gave public notice thereof in the news, 
paper, in which all persons conusant of the transaction were re- 
quested to give me all the information in their power. 

I requested the assistance of T. A. Howard, Esq., attorney for 
the U. S. for that district, which was promptly and efficiently ren. 
dered. 

The Chiefs of the tribe were notified, and requested to attend. 

A list of witnesses was prepared by Gen. Howard, and I caused 
them to be summoned ; and I announced that all persons implicated 
might appear before me, either in person or by their counsel, and 
examine and cross-examine the witnesses, and have such sworn on 
their part as they might deem expedient. 

On the appointed day, I proceeded in the investigation. 

Mr. Howard attended as counsel on the part of the investigation, 
and Messrs. S. S. Tipton, Cowdrey and Dunn appeared as counsel 
for different persons implicated. 

Some doubts having been suggested to me a^- to the genuineness of 
the communication from the Chiefs to the President, I commenced 
by first examining those of its signers who were present. Po-ka. 
gos, and No-taw-ka denied that they signed the letter ; We-wiss-ah 
signed it, because he was urged to do so by Ke-wa-na and Nes-wa- 



^J- 



ky, and those two said they signed it because the others did. They 
said it was written by Col. (Jeoige W. Ewing, and interpreted to 
them by Joseph Barron, the Government interpreter. 

I then read tlie paper to them, parngraph by paragraph, and 
caused it to be interpreted to tliem by Luther Rice, whom I em- 
ployed for that purpose, and who approved himself to be a capable 
and inteihgent interpreter. 

As each part was interpreted to the Chiefs, I inquired of them 
whether they had said, or intended to say, as was written. 

The particulars of this examination, and the answers of the 
Chiefs, will appear on pages 7 to 13 inclusive, of the record of my 
proceedings herewith submitted. They disavowed some parts of the 
paper — those particularly which were calculated to be offensive to 
persons whose names were mentioned ; but in the main they ad- 
mitted that it correctly set f^jrth that which they had intended to 
say, and that their o!)ject had been to tell the President what had 
occurred at the payment, and to " ask him to send one of his wise 
men to inquire into it." 

I then proceeded to take the testimony of witnesses, called by 
any of the parties. The testimony was taken publicly, and after 
being written down, was read over to the witnesses in public, cof- 
rected by them if they desired it^ and then signed. All the testi- 
mony thus received, is herewith submitted, and will be found on 
pages 14 to 94 inclusive, of the record of my proceedings. Va- 
rious documents are also herewith submitted, either separately, or as 
forming a part of that record, to which I shall have occasion here- 
after to refer more particularly. 

From these sources I draw the following conclusions, and in doing 
so shall pursue the course indicated by Gen. Howard in his pro- 
gramme, which is hereto annexed. 

1st. " The difficulty at the payment, embracing the Riot, or mob, with 
the attendant circumstances.'^ 

Before the payment of the annuity to the Indians, the Chiefs had 
determined that the money should be paid to them, and some of them 
had requested Messrs. George W. Evving and Cyrus Taber to assist 
them in counting and dividing it among themselves, and in paying 
their debls. After the payment to the chiefs, they and Messrs. Ewing 
and Taber, Joseph Barron, and some of the guard (which the disburs- 
ing officers had employed) were assembled on the payment ground, 
with the money before them in a shanty, which had been used as the 
council house. In 1835 the Indians had adjusted the debts they 
then owed, and had promised to pay a part of them in 1836. The 



5 

,* 

paper showinp; the amounts thus to be paid, was in the hands of 
Col. Pepper, who stood at the door of the council house, and called 
over the names on it. The persons thus called went into the build- 
ing, and received their money. In this manner the sum of $5142 
was paid to sundry claimants. 

After those sums were paid, Col. Pepper retired ; and Messrs. 
Ewing and Taber in the presence of the Chiefs, proceeded to 
make farther payments on claims against the Indians. They thus 
paid the following additional siuns, viz. Luther Rice $200, Brewyett 
$7ii, Joseph Barron $S000, Evving, Walker & Co., (a firm consisting 
of G. W. Ewing^ W. G. Ewingi'and G. B. Walker) $16,000, A. 
Hamilton and Cyrus Taber $S000, E. V. Cicott $249;3, and Peter 
Barron $618. The firms of Evving, Walker & Co., and Hamilton 
and Taber, were the largest claimants. The money of Ewing, 
Walker & Co. was put aside in the council house, that of Hamil- 
ton & Co. was carried to Taber's quarters, and that of Barron to 
his quarters. 

Before these payments commenced, a good deal of dissatisfaction 
was expressed by the other claimants at the selection of Messrs. 
Ewing and Taber to distribute the money. They were apprehensive 
that they would not receive their share, and the dissatisfaction was 
greatly increased by the payment of such large sums in the three 
instances named. 

The first appearance of any violence, however, grew out of a per- 
sonal altercation between Wm. G. Ewing and Alexander Coquillard ; 
the former being a large claimant, and the latter avowing that he 
was no claimant, but was a friend of the Indians, and determined that 
they should not be cheated. Prior to, and during this quarrel, Gen. 
Grover and some other claimants entered the council house, peace- 
ably, and endeavoured to have the payment of claims stopped until all 
should be presented and investigated or adjusted, but without success. 
Francis Comparet, was one who made such an effort. Failing of 
siccess, he was vehement in his remonstrances, and was turned out 
of the council house by the guard . " Mr. Comparet made considera- 
ble noise," which added to the excitement. Mr. Eldridge, (former 
sheriff of Cass county, Indiana,) ran up to Mr. Coquillard and 
said something to him, which none of the witnesses seemed to have 
heard, and then those two persons rushed towards the council house, 
accompanied by a large crowd, some crying out — " Pull down the 
house," others saying, " No, No." 

The guard were stationed in front of the house ; but the crowd, 
although powerful enough to have borne down all their opposition, 
made no attempt to force themselves in. They hurried to the back 
of the building, and Coquillard attempted to get on its roof. Pierre 



Andre, the Captain of the guard, pushed him off. In falling, he 
seized the butting pole of the house to save himself, but it fell with 
him. Andre threatened to blow out his brains if he repeated the 
attfjmpt. He then went to Barron's house, which was close by, 
clambered on its roof, and made a speech in the French, English, 
and Indian languages. The crowd consisted of some 300 or 400 
whites and about as many Indians. Coquillard's speech is des- 
cribed as being inflammatory, and as having been interrupted by 
frequent exclamations of applause ; and there was a general shout 
of assent at its termination. 

It was urged to me, that his object in getting on to the council 
house, was to aid in, or effect its demolition ; but the testimony is 
satisfactory that he was only desirous to obtain a conspicuous place 
from which to address the crowd. I am also satisfied there was no 
attempt to tear down the house ; the butting pole was thrown down 
by accident, and the clapboards, or peices that had been nailed over 
the crevices between the logs, were torn off in order to enable peo- 
pie to see what was going on inside. The cry of " tear down the 
house" may have been intended as a feint to intimidate its inmates, 
or it may have truly expressed the feelings of some of the crowd. 
If the destruction of the house had been intended, it could easily 
have been done, for the power was with the crowd, and there was no 
force sufficient to stay them. 

It was also urged that Coquillard, in his speech, endeavoured to 
excite the Indians to acts of violence, and to kill the Chiefs who had 
sio-ned the treaty, and had attempted to alienate their affections 
from our government by accusing the President and his officers, of 
lying to them, and cheating them out of their lands. Upon this 
subject the testimony is contradictory. This view of it is sup- 
ported by Col. Ewing, who says he made a memorandum of the 
speech at the time, and therefore is less likely to err in giving now 
the impressions which it then made upon him. Several other witnesses 
however, in relating Coquillard's speech, do not agree in the state- 
ment that he abused the President or excited the Indians to kill the 
Chiefs who had signed the treaty. It is, however, evident that he 
made his speech under great excitement, having come fresh from a 
violent quarrel with one of the claimants— that he was vehement 
in his manner— that he dwelt most upon topics which were irri- 
tatingboth to the whites and the Indians— and that his whole opera- 
tions°were calculated to produce excitement in the camp. His ob- 
ject, however, seams throughout to have been to protect the Indians 
from the frauds vvhich he believed were about being practised upon 
them. Meritorious as this purpose may have been, there was great 
indiscretion exhibited in the means resorted to attain it. So great 



was the excitement, that all agree in the opinion, that one blow 
struck, would have led to a general fight and much bloodshed. 

The disturbance broke up any farther distribution of the money 
by Messrs. Ewing and Taber. The latter retired to his house, and 
having learned that some one of the crowd had threatened him per- 
sonally, he armed himself. The sons of Barron prepared to defend 
the money taken by their father, and Col. Ewin,-: remained in 
the council house with the Chiefs, determined to defend his pos. 
session. 

Coquillard's speech was followed by one from S/iadrina, a half- 
breed, who was intoxicated, and who, at Coquillard's request, in. 
terpreted to the Indians what he had said. Speeches were also made 
from the house-top by Gen. Grover, C. Carter, (posimaster at Lo- 
gansport,) Allan Hamilton, Wm. G. Ewing, and Col. Pepper. Gen. 
Grover insisted that the proceedings of Ewing and Taber, in distri! 
buting the money should be stopped ; that the money already paid, 
should be returned, and none paid out until all the claims were pre* 
sented. Mr. Carter's speech was to the same purpose, and he pro- 
posed an investigation of the claims. Mr. Hamilton proposed that 
the money should be returned, and Mr. Ewing avowed his willing, 
ness to have his claims investigated. All attempted to allay the 
excitement and prevent violence. Some proposed that Col. Pepper 
should investigate the claims. Others, that he and the disbursing 
officer should do so. To these propositions, those gentlemen would 
not assent. Mr. Carter then proposed that they should appoint five 
persons to discharge that duty. This was assented to on all hands • 
Col. Pepper resting his assent upon that of the Indians. ' 

This proposition, and that of Mr. Hamilton to return the money 
allayed the excitement, and the crowd dispersed. Mr. Hamilton 
immediately returned the money which he was to return. Gen 
Grover and some others proceeded to Barron's house to superintend 
the return of his money. His sons first attempted to resist but 
upon being threatened with having their house torn down about 
their ears, they gave it up ; and it was then discovered that he had 
taken $2000 more than the Chiefs and Messrs. Ewing and Taber 
had set apart for him. Col. Ewing's money was taken by the guard 
and put into the general pile, and the whole was then put under the 
care of the agent. 

Col. Pepper was at dinner when the disturbance began. He im 
mediately went to the council house, and as soon as he could obtain 
a hearing, he addressed the crowd. He asserted the right of the 
Indians to do what they pleased with their money, and said thov 
should be protected in the exercise of that right. He endeavoured 



8 

to allay the excitement, and conducted himself throughout with the 
discretion and energy becoming his station and the occasion. 

This was the disturbance, as it occurred on that day. It was 
not, thus far, attended with any other consequences than those de- 
signed, viz. : breaking up the proceedings of Messrs. Ewing & 
Taber. and the return of a portion of the money paid out by them. 
The high state of excitement, however, which existed in the camp, 
and th^ fact that the Indians were armed with their knives, and the 
whites with clubs and sticks, might have rendered the consequences 
more serious if it had not been for the efforts of Col. Pepper, Mr. 
Hamilton, Mr. Carter, and others. 

2d. " The cause and origin of that difficulty.'''' 

Excitement existed both among the Indians and the whites, but 
produced by different causes. 

About 50 Indians of the St. Joseph or Chicago agency, accom- 
panied by their Chief, came down to the payment, and encamped m 
a body about two miles off. Their object was to receive a share of 
the payment, and some of the Wabash Potawatamies desired they" 
should do so. The Chiefs, however, in council determined that this 
should not be done, and Col. Pepper avowed his intention of carry- 
ino- that resolution into effect. This created much di.tatisfaction 
amoncr those northern Indians and their friends, so much so as to 
induce them to leave the council called by the agent in a tumultu- 
ous and insulting manner, and to threaten to fight with the Chiefs 

who had denied them. c ^ a 

By the treaty of 27 October, 1832, certain reservations of land 
were made for particular Chiefs and their bands; among others, 10 
sections to the band of Che-chaw-kose, and 16 sections to that of 
Ash-kum and Wee-si-o-nas. Col. Pepper was instructed to treat 
for the purchase of all those reservations remaining unsold. Ash. 
kum and Che-chaw-kose refused to treat. Col. Pepper then avowed 
his intention of treating with the proper Chiefs of the whole nation 
for the cession of those reservations, and he did so. The treaty of 
the ^3d of September, 1836, was that which he thus made, to which 
neither Ash-kum nor Che-chaw-kose, nor any of their bands, were 

^""Thb as might have been expected, produced great excitement in 
those two Chiefs and their bands. They denied the right of the 
Chiefs of the nation to sell their particular reservations without their 
consent. They remonstrated against the treaty thus made, and 
insisted that it should be broke. They appealed to a letter from 
Gov Cass, which they had, as evidence of their right to a separate 



and exclusive enjoyment of their particular reservations ; and they 
repeatedly threatened the lives of the Chiefs who had thus assumed 
to cede their lands. 

The disturbance which I have described, occurred on Sunday, 
the 25th September. This treaty was made on Friday the 23d, and 
became publicly known on Saturday the 24th. 

The Indians, whose dissatisfaction was produced by these two 
causes, numbered about 300 in camp, as many as, if not more, than 
those who were friendly. 

The state of feeling among them was known on Sunday, and both 
Coquillard and Shadrina alluded to this subject in their speeches on 
that day. Their appeals seemed to meet with a ready response 
from the Indians, who were mingled with the whites in the crowd. 

The excitement among the white people was produced by a dif- 
ferent cause. Almost all of them were claimants against the In- 
dians. The claims amounted to nearly double the sum which the 
Indians were to receive. One of the witnesses described the whites as 
composing " two parties on the ground — one consisted of those who 
had the money, and the other of those who wanted it, and the latter- 
was the strongest." The officers of government stood alooffrom both. 

The Indians received $63,000. Of this they set apart $16,000 
for themselves, and appropriated $47,000 to the payment of their 
debts. The Chiefs, and their friends Messrs. Ewing and Taber, 
had already paid out to three persons $32,000, leaving only $15,000 
for distribution among the other claimants. It seemed to be gene- 
rally understood among the claimants, that no debts (excepting 
only those adjusted in 1835) should be paid, until all the claims 
should be presented, so that all should have an equal chance. On 
the contrary, the payment of new claims commenced without wait- 
ing for the presentation of all of them. The remonstrances of the 
other claimants were disregarded, one of them was ejected by vio- 
lence from the room. And the payment went on with a liberal 
hand to those who were permitted to remain inside. Hence the 
excitement among the white people. 

Their object seemed to be solely to arrest these proceedings, and 
bring about a more equitable distribution of the money. None of 
the claimants alluded to the topic which had produced the excite, 
raent among the Indians. And as soon as the money was returned, 
and it was determined to appoint other men to pay it out after re- 
ceiving all the claims, the excitement among them subsided, and 
the disturbance, so far as they were concerned, ended. 

It is, however, contended, that the disturbance was the result of 
preconcert among some of the leaders. This allegation is based 
upon the evidence of Saml. D. Taber, " that Grover and Coquillard 



10 

appeared very much enraged that claims were to be paid, which 
ought not to be ; and the latter said, before that should be done, he 
would tear down tlic house and give tbe money to the Indians. 
Carter told him to stick to that, and Grover said they would make 
Coquillard foreman, and the three then went off together; that 
Eldredf^e said thev would have had a disturbance before, if they 
could have got any body to talk Indian ; as soon as Coquillard came, 

they went ahead." 

I cannot learn from the testimony, that Mr. Carter did any thing 
more in the disturbance, than to make the proposition, which was 
finally acceded to, and quieted the excitement. The other three gen. 
tlemen were active in leading on the crowd. But I am not satisfied 
that they intended any violence. They talked loud, and made a 
great noise, but committed no further violence. 

3. '« Its results, and particularly as to the conduct of the offi- 
cers,'^ «SfC. 

' One result was, that part of the money of the Indians was miss- 
in-, and never accounted for. They received $63,000. Of this, 
$472 was paid for depredations, $12,328 was paid by Messrs. 
Ewing and Taber, and not returned, $16,000 was paid by the new 
Commissioners to the Indians, $32,832 to the claimants, and 
$128,00 for their services and expenses ; making a total of $61,760. 
And showing a deficiency of $1240. I cannot, with all my inqui- 
ries, ascertain what became of that sum. It was probably extract, 
ed from the mass during the disturbance, but by whom I cannot 
even conjecture. It seems to have been lost to the Indians at all 

events. 

Another result was, that when it became necessary to have a 
guard, it was no longer discreet for Col. Pepper to rely upon the 
assistance of the white people on the ground ; for most of them had 
been engaged in the disturbance, and some of his guard had aban- 
doned their post and made common cause with the people. He 
was therefore obliged to resort elsewhere for a force which, under 
other circumstances, he might have obtained on the spot. 

Another result was, an entirely diflTerent distribution of the mo. 
ney. On Monday morning Col. Pepper announced the appoint- 
ment of Ebenezer Ward, William Polke, R. B. Stevenson, S. B. 
Barthelet, and E. V. Cicott. This appointment was very judicious. 
They were gentlemen of high character in the community, and dis- 
charged their duty with fidelity and scrupulous integrity. There 
is no^foundation whatever for the charges of mal-conduct against 
them, which are contained in the letter from the Chiefs. If they 



11 

paid any false claims, it was because they had neither the time nor 
the opportunity of investigation. And in every instance, where 
either of them was interested in the claim presented, he was care- 
ful to abstain from acting upon it. Tiiey rejected some claims, and 
upon all that were allowed, they paid something. 

Another result is so intimately connected with calling out the 
troops, that it will be considered hereafter. 

I felt myself especially required to investigate the conduct of the 
officers of government in these transactions. 

The conduct of Barron, the interpreter, in taking $2000 more 
than was allotted to him, was without excuse. 

The Chiefs deny that they intended to make any charge against 
Col. Pepper, but there are some implied in their letter to the 
President. These are, however, complaints that he had not remained 
among them as long as they deemed it necessary. He did remain 
as long as there was any real necessity for his doing so, and then he 
was called away by other and equally pressing official duties. 

It may also be, as the Chiefs and Mr. Coquillard seemed to sup- 
pose, that if he had undertaken the task of distribution, there would 
not have been any disturbance. But that was not within the scope 
of his official duties, and his predecessor had incurred some cen- 
sure from having, on previous occasions, undertaken it. 

" 4th. Was it (the disturbance) such as to justify calling out the 
troops ?" 

The state of feeling among a portion of the Indians, on Sunday, 
has already been adverted to. On the evening of that day Col. 
Pepper held a council with the Chiefs, to select the new commis- 
sioners. Ashkum, and others of the disaffected Indians, intruded 
themselves rudely upon that council, and broke it up. 

At the execution of the treaty of the 23d September, the Chiefs 
who signed it expressed their fears that their lives would be endan- 
ed if they did so. Col. Pepper promised them his protection. After 
the execution of the treaty, he was informed that the dissatisfied 
Indians had held a council, and determined to kill all who had 
signed the treaty ; and the feeling which existed among them, was 
apparent to him as early as Sunday morning. After the coun- 
cil was thus disturbed on Sunday evening, the Chiefs who had 
signed the treaty called upon him, told him their lives were threat, 
ened, and claimed his protection as he had promised them. At this 
time there were many in the camp, both Indians and Whites, who 
were intoxicated, and these Chiefs armed themselves with knives 
and pistols. 

There were no government troops nearer than Chicago, and they 



12 

could not have been procured in less than five or six days' time. It 
was not to be expected, under the circumstances, that the agent would 
attempt to organize a force among those whites who were in the 
camp, and who had, most of them, been engaged in scenes which 
encouraged, if it did not engender, the bad feeling among the In- 
dians. He had no alternative but to call upon the militia ; and he 
did so by a requisition upon Col. Ewing, a copy of which will be 
found in the record of my proceedings. This was issued on Sun- 
day evening, and the troops arrived in the neighbourhood on Mon- 
day afternoon. 

Apprehensions of further disturbance continued on Monday, and 
it was the opinion of the most candid and dispassionate among the 
witnesses, that, in consequence of the excitement during that day, 
no distribution of the money could have taken place without the 
aid of troops ; and that opinion was repeatedly expressed to Col. 
Pepper. In the course of that day, Ashkum, and an Indian named 
Ship-she-wa-eno, made some speeches to an assemblage of about 
200 Indians, in which they were very abusive to Col. Pepper and in- 
sulting to the Chiefs who had signed the treaty, daring them to come 
out of doors, telling them they were not Chiefs, &;c. 

The conduct of this Chief and his party, on this occasion and on 
Sunday evening, was the natural consequence of the previous dis- 
turbance. They would not have ventured upon it, if the example 
had not been set them the day before, if they had not looked for 
countenance among the white people, and had not discovered the 
want of power in the agent to control either the whites or Indians. 

On the same day Coquillard went into the woods, and made a 
speech to 40 or 50 Indians, in which he accused the Ewings of at- 
tempting to cheat them. Col. Pepper hearing of this, went to the 
place, and forbid Coquillard from going any farther, and he de- 
sisted. 

In the course of that afternoon, the news reached the camp that 
troops had arrived in the vicinity. The excitement became imme- 
diately very great. The people rushed towards the lodge, in which 
was Col. Pepper with the money. He met them at the door, and by 
his resolution and energy prevented any farther disturbance there. 
The camp was in great confusion. Some abused the Colonel ; others 
talked of preparing to meet the troops ; but nothing more than noise 
happened. 

The next day the troops arrived at the camp. The money was 
put into the possession of Mr. Ward and his associates, and the 
troops under their orders. And then, without any farther molesta- 
tion, the task of distribution was completed. 

Those Commissioners made to me a report of their proceedings 



13 



which IS herewith transmitted. The troops were on duty for several 
days, and, accompanying the evidence, will be found sundry docu- 
ments showing the particulars of their service. 

ft might have been, that the money could have been distributed, 
and the Chiefs protected against the threatened violence, without 
any resort to an armed force. But there was too much excitement 
and well-grounded apprehension of violence, to justify an experi- 
ment which, if unsuccessful, would have been attended with dis- 
astruos and fatal consequences. And in my opinion Col. Pepper 
was required, by the obligations of his office, to call around him 
such a force as would cause his station, as the representative of the 
government, to be properly respected, and would enable him to 
afford to the Chiefs that protection which they had, under the cir- 
cumstances, a right to require at his hands. 

During the investigation before me, there was some conflicting 
testimony, and some imputations upon individuals, which induced 
me to announce, at the close of the testimony, that I would receive 
any written communications upon the subject from any person who 
might choose to make them. 

In consequence of this announcement, I received the letters here 
to annexed from M. Coquillard, E. V. Cicott, G. W. Ewing, Joseph 
Barron, and Peter Barron. I do not know that I am called upon 
to take any farther notice of the three former. The two latter are 
from two of the witnesses to the letter of the Chiefs to the President 
and they aver that the letter in my possession is different from that 
which they signed. 

Having received only a copy from your department, in conse- 
quence of these letters I applied to you, as you are aware, for the 
original. Upon receiving it, I discovered at once, from an inspection 
of the paper, that the whole of it-signatures of Chiefs and witnesses 
—was all in the same hand-writing, and therefore color was given to 
the assertion of the Messrs. Barron. I then applied to Col. Evvina 
for the original, by letter, a copy of which is annexed. He prompt! 
ly furnished it to me, and I herewith transmit it to you. It will be 
seen on examination, that though it differs in some respects from 
that on your files, the difference is not very material, and does 
not exist m those points in which the Barrens suppose it did. 

Your instructions direct me to report to your office all the facts 
which shall be elicited by my investigation, together with my opi. 
mon whether any, and if any, what farther action is necessary on the 
part of your department. I hope I shall be pardoned for taking in 
my answer a wider range than may appear to be strictly neces- 
sary. 

In regard to the conduct of Barron the interpreter, I must beg 



u 

leave, before your department shall arrive at an opinion, to refer 
you to my report in some of the debt cases, and particularly in his 
own case, No. 17, and to his letter to me of the 19th of June, which 
is herewith transmitted. 

I am not aware that it will be necessary for your department to 
take any measures, even if any should be deemed proper, in refer- 
ence to the conduct of the parties engaged in the disturbance. An 
indictment has been preferred in the State courts of Indiana against 
Coquillard, Grover, Eldredge, Comparet, Shadrina, and Carter for 
a Riot ; and that tribunal is competent to try and to punish, if justice 
"shall require it. A copy of the indictment is herewith transmitted. 

By referring to a letter from Gen. Howard, a copy of which will 
be found on page 103 of the Record of my proceedings, it will be 
seen that Col. Ewing preferred a complaint against Coquillard and 
others for a violation of the laws of Congress, and that Col. Pepper 
addressed a communication to the U. S. District Judge upon the 
subject. In consequence of the latter, a grand jury was summoned, 
and the matter submitted to them. They found " that the breaches 
of law complained of, referred themselves for adjudication and pun- 
ishment to the laws of the State of Indiana, and the courts thereof ;" 
but they expressed an opinion that Coquillard and Shadrina had vio- 
lated the 13th Sect, and the latter clause of the 15th Section of the 
Act of Congress of the 30th June, 1834. 

It is proper, therefore, as suggested by Gen. Howard, that I should 
express an opinion whether the latter part of this finding of the 
Grand Jury is correct. The District Attorney certainly acted with 
propriety in deferring the commencement of prosecutions for the 
penalties prescribed by those sections. He was not bound by that 
finding, yet it would have afforded him a good excuse for commenc- 
ing suits. But it was altogether most discreet to wait until all the 
facts should be fully developed. 

I have already adverted to the discrepancies in the testimony in 
reference to the speeches of Coquillard and Shadrina. It is stated 
most strongly against them in the testimony of Col. Ewing. 
(page 70.) Even if we should consider that as the correct version, 
there will not, I think, be found enough to justify the finding of the 
Grand Jury. 

This is a penal law, and is to be strictly construed. The 13th 
section renders it penal to send any talk, speech, dec, with intent to 
produce a contravention or infraction of a treaty, die. or to dis- 
turb the peace, &c. Now, this cannot properly be construed 
to relate to a speech or talk orally delivered by its author, but only 
to one sent by its author through some other channel than a personal 
(delivery. The next (the 14th) section strengthens this view, for i t 



15 

inflicts a penalty upon any person who shall deliver any such talk, 
&c., to or from any Indian nation, &lc., from or to any subject, citi- 
zen, &c. ; clearly contemplating only a case of a speech or talk 
sent from one person to another by a third. This was not the case 
with Coquillard and Shadrina. They delivered their own speeches, 
and did not send them by a third person. Although as much mis- 
chief may be done in the one way as the other, and a penal provi- 
sion be equally necessary in both cases, that will aflbrd no good 
reason for extending the operation of the statute to cases not strictly 
within its letter. 

The latter clause of the 15th section renders it penal for any 
person to alienate, or attempt to alienate, the confidence of any 
Indian or Indians yrom the government of the United States. If we 
still continue to take the view of their speeches which Col. Ewing 
gives, we shall not, I apprehend, be able to find any thing in them 
which would subject Coquillard and Shadrina to the penalty pre- 
scribed in this section. The utmost that they said, was accusing 
the agent of having cheated the Indians, advising them to disavow 
the treaty and require it to be broken, and charging the Agent or 
the President (which of them is uncertain,) with having lied to 
them. All this may have had a tendency to alienate the con- 
fidence of the Indians from the Agent, but the alienation of their 
confidence from the government would not necessarily ensue. The 
speeches were consistent with the entire confidence of the Indians 
that the government would break an unjust treaty, and protect them 
against the deceptions of which they complained, and may have 
contemplated an appeal to the justice of government for that pur- 
pose. It is true, the speakers may have intended to effect their ob- 
ject by a resort to violence. But in the absence of testimony, we 
are not at liberty to presume, in order to bring them within the 
provisions of a penal statute, that their intentions were unlawful. 
On the other hand, it is our duty to presume that their intentions 
were lawful, until the contrary is proved. No such proof was 
given in the case, and I am of opinion that the Grand Jury err- 
ed. 

I have carefully examined the act of Congress, for a prohibition 
against any person's making a speech, or any other direct and per- 
sonal effort, to alienate the affections of the Indians from our 
government, or to disturb our peace or tranquillity. I have searched 
in vain. Such a provision seems necessary ; for surely as much 
injury can be done by personally making a speech, as by its trans- 
mission through a third person. 

This is not, however, the only reform which suggests itself to me 
as proper to be adopted. 



16 

Difficulties like those which occurred in Indiana, or occurrences 
of a character equally destructive to the morals and happiness 
of the Indians, must, more or less, necessarily grow out of the 
present mode of paying their annuities. A whole nation or tribe 
is assembled at one place. The annuity is paid in coin, and is 
appropriated by the Indians either in the purchase of articles at the 
time, or in payment of debts contracted at prior purchases. Some 
of tliese articles are necessar}^ many are unnecessary, and seme 
are positively injurious. The traders are naturally anxious to 
obtain this money ; not without an equivalent it is true, but an 
equivalent in which their interest is regarded rather than that of 
the Indian. Hence the traders prepare for the payment, and pro- 
ceed to the camp with the materials for trade ; and they are induced 
to carry into the Indian country, and spread before the Indians, the 
temptation to indulge in practices both physically and morally 
injurious. 

It is in vain that the payment may be appointed far in the 
interior, and at a distance from the trading ports. 

It is soon ascertained that whiskey can be transported wherever 
specie can, and the one follows the other with a true and certain 
scent. 

The evils arising from this practice are manifold. 

Much time is occupied in travelling to and from the payment, 
and the Indians are consequently often absent from their hunts or 
their corn-fields for three or four weeks of their most valuable time. 

Many white men and half-breeds are in the habit of attending ; 
some from curiosity or amusement, and some for the purpose of 
sharing in the annuity, by enrolling themselves or their families in 
the tribe by their Indian names. Among these, it is not uncommon 
for scenes of debauchery and intoxication to ensue, which at least 
has the effect of rendering the task of keeping the Indians in pro- 
per bounds rather difficult. 

\< The proneness of the Indians to indulge in intoxication is net 
always controllable, and it is frequently impracticable for the offi- 
cers of government to procure their abstinence even until their 
business shall be completed. The hope of gain overcomes the 
fear of the penalties of the law. A military force cannot always 
be procured. A guard organized from the inhabitants of ^the 
camp, cannot, as was evident in Indiana, be always relied upon. 
And without a physical force to destroy or take possession of 
the liquor, the traders and Indians will both yield to the tempta- 
tions before them. If the officers of government are able to pre- 
serve order during their sojourn in camp, the traders and Indians 
remain after their departure. All restraint is then thrown off; and 



17 

the whole camp, men, women, and children, will exhibit a disgust. 
ing spectacle of intoxication — the money of the Indians be wasted 
and gone in a few hours — not uncommonly fights and murders 
occur, and the Indian returns from his payment almost as poor as 
when he went, and certainly injured rtv the debauchery in which he 
has been engaged, and the examples which have been set before him. 
f I am not dealing in exaggeration. I am describing what I 
have seen, and what has been disclosed to me in my investigations. 
By referring to the particular case of the Potawatamies, it will be 
observed that there were several grog-shops in the camp — that 
whites and Indians were both intoxicated — that liquor had much to 
do in producing the necessity for the interposition of an armed force 
— and that the excitement among the Indians was rendered alarm- 
ing by their intoxication. 

The effect thus produced upon the moral habits of the Indians, is 
not the only evil they sustain from this practice. By means of 
their annuities, they acquire a credit with the traders which is in- 
jurious to them. When in want of any article, instead of relyino- 
upon their skill in hunting, or their industry in their corn-fields or 
their rice grounds, they rely upon this credit, and buy at a price 
greatly increased by their ignorance, and the risk and delay in 
payment. Proper incentives to industry are thus destroyed, and 
they are encouraged in the habits of idleness and improvidence 
to which they are ever prone, and which are the most formidable 
obstacles to their civilization and moral improvement. 

The community of property generally existing among them, and 
which operates to discourage their industry, is increased by the 
present mode of paying their annuities. The debts which they 
contract are frequently paid out of the comn)on stock of the whole 
tribe, the debts of individuals being thus converted into claims 
against the whole nation. The indebted Indian is not required to 
pay his debt out of his share of the annuity. This arises from 
their inability to compute or understand the accounts against them, 
or to make distribution of their money, and from the importunitv of 
their creditors, who find their interest in checking discrimination. 
The effect, however, upon the Indians is most injurious. The 
more each runs in debt, the greater is the share which he obtains 
of the common fund. The industrious and economical fare worse 
than do the idle and extravagant ; and a struggle is very naturally 
produced among them, which shall least practise the virtues which 
are so essential to the improvement of their condition. 

This is strongly exemplified among the Potawatamies of the Wa- 
bash. By pursuing this course they have become so involved in 
debt, that the price of their whole domain, although liberal, cannot 

3 



18 

extricate them ; and the habits of idleness, improvidence, and intoxica- 
tion, thus produced among tliem, render the entire extinction of this 
portion of a once powerful nation, an event that must be regarded as 
both speedy and certain, unless a new state of things shall dawn 
upon them. 

Beyond the benefits resulting to the traders from this practice, I 
know of but one argument in favor of its continuance ; it is, perhaps, 
the cheapest mode in which we can pay Indian annuities. But I 
will not believe that this consideration will have any weigiit 
with our government, when it is recollected that our mistimed 
economy is inflicting serious and lasting evils upon those whom we 
are in the habit of treating as inops consilii, as wards committed 
to our guardian care, whose welfare we are bound to regard by 
every consideration of justice and humanity. 

The most effectual remedy for these evils will be to pay the an- 
nuities in goods and provisions. 

The first effect of this change will be, to destroy the worst part 
of the Indian trade. The traders do not wish for goods in exchange 
for their commodities. Their object, mainly, is to obtain money or furs. 
Their trade being confined principally to the latter, they would not 
have the same inducement to attend the Indian payments with large 
stocks of goods and liquor. The Indians, for the purchase of such 
articles as they would require, would be compelled to rely upon their 
success in hunting or cultivating the ground. They would thus be 
incited to be industrious, skilful, and economical ; and the traders 
would no longer find it to their interest to hold out to them temp- 
tations to be otherwise ; and the influence of the traders growing out 
of the frequency of their intercourse, and which is naturally exer- 
cised rather for their own benefit than that of the Indians, would be 
materially impaired. 

That influence is already sufficiently strong to enable the traders, if 
they should see fit to exercise it, to thwart any measures depending 
upon the assent of the Indians which government might adopt for 
their improvement. They are in the frequent habit of conferring 
favors upon the Indians, sometimes without the hope of remunera- 
tion, and to afford relief from acute suffering and pressing want ; 
sometimes with an expectation of return, rendered uncertain by a 
dependence not only upon the will, but the ability of the obliged 
party. As there is no obligation which has more binding force 
with an Indian, than that of making a suitable return for favors be- 
stowed ; so no influence over them is stronger than that which is 
founded on this basis, and none that is more powerful, for good or 
ill, as it may chance to be exerted. 



19 

The goods, if judiciously purchased, could be supplied by govern- 
ment at a much cheaper rate than by the retail trader of the In- 
dian country ; or, to express it more properly, the Indians would re- 
ceive more goods for the same money. Confined to articles of ne- 
cessity, such as clothing, provisions, and implements for hunting 
and farming, and the like, they would furnish much more extensive 
relief from that pinching want which is the frequent consequence 
of their uncontrolable love of finery and strong drinks. 

This measure, therefore, while it will curtail the means and in- 
ducements for intemperate indulgence, will increase the supply for 
actual necessaries. I know, however, that it is frequently said, 
that it will compel the Indians to receive articles which they do not 
want. This, surely, cannot be considered an insuperable objection, 
until it shall be shown to be impracticable for the Indians to com- 
municate their wants to the officers of government, or for those offi- 
cers to ascertain what articles are suitable to their condition ; 
a matter, one would suppose, of not more difficult attainment to a 
government officer than to an Indian trader. 

The mere fact of paying annuities in goods, will not alone pro- 
duce all the benefits to be desired, although it will materially ap- 
proximate to that result. The habitual improvidence of the Indians 
may frequently induce them, when they have on hand more goods 
or provisions than is required by their immediate wants, to barter 
them away for injurious commodities at so great a sacrifice as to 
render the trade, even in that form, profitable to the white man. 
This will be more particularly the case if they are congregated in 
such large numbers as to create a business extensive enough to com- 
pensate the trader for his risk, time, and expense of transportation. 

To prevent this, and render the system complete, it would be ne- 
cessary to abolish the present practice of calling a whole nation or 
tribe together, and paying a whole year's annuity at one time ; but, 
in lieu of that, pay them by separate bands, villages, or small par- 
ties ; divide the annuity in two or more payments, to be made at dif- 
ferent periods in the year ; and in all cases have it distributed by 
the government officers, among heads of families or individuals, 
and not paid in mass. 

It is this feature in the proposed reform, which will increase the 
duties of your subordinates, and may increase the expense to go- 
vernment ; but the advantafjes to the Indians must be manifest to 
every one acquainted with the subject. 

In those cases where, in consequence of treaty stipulations, or 
from other causes, annuities can be paid only in specie, many of the 
evils of which I have spoken would be remedied or ameliorated by 
making the payments to small bands or villages, rather than to the 



20 

whole nation, and at several periods in the year ; and in all cases let 
each family have its share. The advantage of each of these measures 
has already been pointed out, among which, the encouragement which 
would thus be given to a separate ownership of property would not 
be the least. 

I am aware that it may said that the Indians have recently, by 
refusing to accept their annuities in goods, evinced their opposition 
to the course I susraest. But I am also aware that these refusals have 
frequently been prompted by other considerations than the advance- 
ment of the true interest of the Indians, and have as frequently been 
mads in uttt)r ignorance of tlie fact, that they would have been ma- 
terially benefitted by acceptance. I too fully appreciate the opera- 
ting influence, to accord to that refusal all the weight to which, un- 
der other circumstances, it might be entitled. 

The plan, therefore, Avliich I suggest, will, in my opinion, be at- 
tended with these great advantages : — it will avoid the debauchery 
and intoxication so frequently exhibited at Indian payments, will 
remove the temptations which are now so freely placed before the 
Indians, will extend their annuities in value, will teach them a 
separation instead of a community of property, will encourage 
economy and industry, and discourage their opposites, and will 
impair an influence over them which can frequently be exercised 
to their injury. 

Thoroughly convinced, by observation and my investigations, of the 
justice and humanity of the measures which I have taken the liberty 
to suggest, I have felt it a duty to submit them to your consider- 
ation, in the hope that by their adoption much may be done to 
improve the condition of the Indians, and their certain destruction 
Be at least impeded, if it cannot be entirely arrested. 

I am, Sir, 

With great respect, your obedient Serv't, 

J. W. EDMONDS, 
U. S. Com'r, &c. 



DOCUMENTS. 



PROGRAMME OF GENERAL HOWARD. 

LoGANSPORT, InD. 

Tuesday morning, 13th June, 1837. 
In the investigation of certain matters (connected with the In- 
dian payment in the County of Fuller, in September last,) before 
the Commissioner, J. W. Edmonds, Esq., under instructions from 
the War Department, I propose to offer testimony upon the follow, 
ing subjects of inquiry, in the order in which they are stated, to 
wit : — 

1st. The difficulty at the payment, embracing the riot or mob, 
with the attendant circumstances. 

2d. The cause and origin of that difficulty. 

3d. Its results, and particularly as to the conduct of the officers, 
&;c. 

4th. Was it such as to justify calling out the troops ? 

These points of inquiry, it is believed, comprehend the matters 
indicated in that part of the instructions to which my attention has 
been directed by the Commissioner. 

T. A. Howard, 
U. S. Atty., Ind. District. 



REQUISITION OF COMMISSIONERS. 

To CoL. A. C. Pepper. 

You will please retain the troops here to protect us and the 
Chiefs of the Potawatamies, in his discharge of our duty as Com- 
missioners to investigate claims in favour of the Whites against 
said Potawatamies. 

Wm. Polke, 

E. V. CiCOTT, 

R. B. Stevenson, 
Sept. 29, 1836. D. D. Pratt. 

We, the undersigned, with feeling safe to discharge the duty in- 
volved upon us by the Chiefs of the Wabash Potawatamies, through 
their father, Col. A. C. Pepper, Indian agent, suggest the propriety 



22 

of Col. Pepper's sending for the troops at Rochester, to protect us 
and the Chiefs in the distribution of their annuity ; and also to ac- 
company the money left to pay their just debts to Judge Polke, if 
required ; and also to prevent all violations of the laws of the State. 
Ebenezer Ward, President of the Board. 

P. S, We further request Col. A. C. Pepper to lead the troops 
to this camp. 

Sept. 28, 1836. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 1836. 

Sir, — The undersigned Commissioners appointed by Col. Pepper, 
Indian Agent, and Capt. Simonton, Disbursing Agent, at the re- 
quest of the Potavvatamie Chiefs, in Sept. 1836, to divide and dis- 
tribute a portion of their money to the heads of families, and to divide 
the residue among the claimants against the Polawatamies of the 
Wabash, beg leave respectfully to submit the following report :— 

Under the peculiar circumstances existing at the time, 
owing to the great number of claimants, and others attending 
the payment, and the difliculty of procuring subsistence in the 
neighborhood, together with the impatience of the Indians and 
claimants themselves, it was found impracticable to enter into any 
accurate investigation of claims presented against the Indians. 
The undersigned, by one of their colleagues, namely, William Polke, 
Esq., proclaimed to the people or claimants, that they would en- 
deavor to pay no claims that were not just ; but should they, through 
mistake, pay any one more than should thereafter, upon an investi- 
gation, appear to be just, the claimants would be required to pay 
them back ; and further, that the undersigned would recommend to 
the Secretary of VVar the propriety and necessity of instituting an 
investigation, by the ai)pointment of a Commissioner for that pur- 
pose, of all the claims against the aforesaid tribe of Indians. That 
the undersigned, believing such a Commissioner would be appointed, 
and that upon this condition being verbally expressed and under- 
stood, the claimants herewith presented were handed in and tiled, 
and afterwards handed back to the owners. 

We beg leave to submit to your Honor, that, agreeable to the re- 
quest of the Chiefs, we paid of the money that was placed in our 
care to themselves and to the heads of families as they directed, six- 
teen thousand dollars ; and the remainder thirty-two thousand nine 
hundred and sixty dollars, as follows, to witi: — 

To ditferent claimants as per vouchers, thirty-two thousand eight 
hundred and thirty-two dollars, and for conveying the same from 
payment ground to Judge Polke, by two teams, fourteen dollars, (re- 
ceipts ;) also paid Cyrus Vigus and Moses H. Scott, for assisting in 
counting the money, five dollars each. Also paid Judge Polke, 
for sundry accommodations in transacting our business, sixteen dol- 



23 

lars ; and also paid Mr. Rice, our interpreter, six dollars ; and to M. 
B. Brouillet, Esq., four dollars ; and tlie Commissioners sixteen dol- 
lars each ; making ninety-six dollars. Amounting in ail that we 
paid, to the sum of forty-eight thousand nine hundred and sixty- 
eight dollars. 

The foregoing being the full amount of money that came into the 
hands of the Commissioners on the 28th of Sept. 1836. 

Ebenezer VVakd, ") 

Wm. Polkk, ,' ^ . . 

T T> i> } Commissioners. 

L. ij. Uerthelet, I 

B. B. Stevenson, J 

To J. W. Edmonds, Esq., Commissoner U. S. 
June 8th, 1837. 



LETTER OF ALEXIS COQUILLARD. 

Logansport, June 22d. 1837. 
To John W. Edmonds, Esq. 

United States' Commissioner for investigating claims airainst 

DO O 

the Wabash Potawatamies. 
Sir, — An opportunity having been offered to myself, with others, 
to present you a statement in writing, explanatory, and in justifica- 
tion of my conduct at the payment of the annuity to the Wabash 
Potawatamies on the Tippicanoe River, in the fall of 1836, as also in 
other matters connected therewith, I beg leave to trouble you with 
the following. I first commenced trading with the Potawatamie In- 
dians in the year 1817, on the little St. Joseph's River, about forty 
miles distant from Fort Wayne, and continued there part of the time 
trading for myself, and part of the time as agent or clerk of J. E. 
Swartz ; at the expiration of which time I formed a co-partnership 
with Francis Comparet, and removed to Fort Wayne, where I con. 
tinued trading with said Indians until 1835, embracing a period of 
near fourteen years. My partner resided during this period at Fort 
Wayne. During the three or four first years in which we traded as 
co-partners, we had an annual stock of goods amounting to frOra five 
thousand to ten thousand dollars. During the remainder of the 
time we had annually a stock of between twenty-five and thirty 
thousand dollars ; and I do not now remember that in any one year 
during that whole period, we did or could have credited to the In- 
dians more than six thousand dollars. This arose not from our un. 
willingness to credit them for goods, but from the fears which they 
entertained, and often expressed, that they would not be able to pay 
for them. It would be proper for me here to remark, that durino- 
the greater part of the time I was trading with them they owned 
almost the whole of that portion of the State of Indiana lying north 
of the Wabash River. In the year 1832, on the Tippacanoe River, 
a nd in 1833 at Chicago, I had a final settlement with the Wabash 



24 

Indians, and roceived my last payment in 1835. In September, 
1836, a short time prior to the payment of the annuity to the Wa- 
bash Potawatainies of that year, private business called me to Fort 
Wayne and Wabash Town. On my return home, other private busi- 
ness required my presence at Rochester, a small town about four 
miles distant from the spot that had been selected as the payment 
ground for the payment of the annuity last mentioned. While 
there, I was called upon by several of my friends to go to the pay- 
ment ground ; and, after some persuasion and statements on their 
part, all my friends, some Indians among the number, wished very 
much that I would come. I consented, and did go. In order the 
better to explain the course then pursued by myself, I must ask you 
to go back to the year 1819, at which time I at first became acquaint, 
ed with the Messrs. Evving. In the year 1822 I think, the father of 
the Messrs. Ewing had a small trading establisiiment ; but Mr. G. 
H. Ewing and Mr. Wm. G. Ewing did not commence trading un- 
til in 1826 or 1827, at which time they purchased a small stock of 
goods in Detroit. They located themselves at Fort Wayne, and 
traded with Miami and Potawatamie Indians indiscriminately. 
They continued at Fort Wayne until 1828 or 1829, at which time 
Mr. Geo. W. Ewing removed to Logansport, where he now resides. 
From my acquaintance with the men, I have found them to be de- 
signing, intriguing men, seeking a fortune, (for they, like myself, 
"were poor wlien they commenced business,) with a determination 
to get it, as they have often said to myself and others, by whatever 
means they could obtain it. Showing this to be their character, I 
have always thought them capable of doing any act, however mean 
or dishonorable. When, therefore, I arrived at Rochester and the 
payment ground as above stated. I was not a little surprised to 
find that they (the Ewings.) had presented a claim of $32,000 
against the Indians. I say I was not a little surprised ; for, notwith- 
standing I thought them capable, as above remarked, ot doing almost 
any thing for the sake of money ; yet I did not think thoy could have 
the effrontery to bring a claim of that amount for goods sold in the 
course of one year; and that, too, against the Wabash Potawatamie 
tribe, which does not exceed one thousand in number. In 1835 
they had a final settlement with the Indians, and were allowed the 
sum of $8000, at which time they received $5000, and were to get the 
remainder in 1836, which they did. When they were allowed that 
sum, they said to many persons, and to the Indians themselves, that 
that was the whole of the claim they then had against said Indians ; 
and when we add to this, the fact that they have purchased from 
these same Indians nearly 3,000 acres of land, besides the great 
amount of land which they have purchased from other persons ; that 
they only commenced business about ten years since, and that, too, 
when poor ; and that they never, at any one year, purchased more 
than $40,000 worth of goods to supply a large store at Fort Wayne, 
where they also traded largely with the white population, a large 
store at Logansport, where they also sold largely to the whites, be- 
sides a large number of small establishments elsewhere ; I think you 
must yourself be surprised. I would here beg leave to remark, that 



25 

from my intimate knowledge of the Potawatamie Indians, their cha- 
racter and language, I can state, without fear of contradiction, that 
there is no race of beings who can so easily be made the dupes of 
designing men. They are a simple, confiding people ; and when they 
have confidence in any person, that person can persuade them to 
sign any paper, and do almost any act. This remark is particularly 
applicable to the Messrs. Ewing ; being endowed with considerable 
natural ability and sprightliness, possessing gentlemanly and easy 
manners with the disposition I have before mentioned, they are the 
men of all others most likely and able to deceive and lead away 
persons so ignorant and credulous as the Wabash Potawatamies. 
I found a great excitement among the white people, as also among 
the Indians. That among the whites was occasioned by the un- 
usual amount claimed by the Messrs. Ewing, and also from the fact, 
that Mr. G. W. Ewing and Cyrus Taber had been selected to pay 
the claims. That among the Indians was occasioned from the fact, 
that the head Chiefs of the nation had sold reservations that had 
been given to bands, without consulting the Chiefs of those par- 
ticular bands. I did not get to the payment ground until Saturday 
evening, and consequently knew nothing of the occurrences of the 
previous days. When I first reached the payment ground on Saturday 
evening, a great number of persons complained that the Messrs. 
Ewing were going to defraud them of the amount of their several 
claims, and the Indians of the money. There was at that time a 
very great excitement, which continued until late on Sunday evening, 
in which I took no part until on Sunday, when in a conversation with 
Messrs. Carter and Grover, I advised them to go to G. W. Ewing, 
and get him, if possible, to consent to the appointment of disinterested 
persons to investigate the claims, and pay a part or all. One of them 
went in search of him for that purpose, but found him in the council- 
house distributing the money, which prevented a conversation. I 
then went to Mr. W. G. Ewing for the same purpose ; he made some 
insulting reply, when I first civilly accosted him, which caused us to 
quarrel. While we were still talking, some difficulty took place at 
tbe council-house, which attracted the attention of every person, and 
caused a general rush in that direction. I too went, but for no 
other purpose than to see the cause. When I got there, General 
Grover asked me to speak to the Indians, and explain the reason 
of the disturbance. In order to do this, I first attempted to get upon 
the top of the council-house. I caught hold of the top pole of the 
house to pull myself up, but it gave way, and I fell to the ground. I 
made a second attempt, but was pushed back by Majoi'^Andre, the 
captain of the guard. I then succeeded in getting upon an adjoin- 
ing house, when I explained to the Indians the cause of the disturb- 
ance. I also told them that the E wings were attempting to cheat 
them out of their money. I told them not to be still like boys, and 
let themselves be robbed ; but to come out like men , and pay their 
honest debts, and no more. Being excited, I said much on this sub- 
ject ; but most positively deny saying any thing against or deroga- 
tory to Col. Pepper, Capt. Simonton, or the government of the Uni- 
ted States. And here I must say, that 1 see in the evidence that has 

4 



i>] 



26 



been adduced before you, Sir, that the witnesses have blended the re- 
marks made by myself with those made by the Indian Chiefs. They 
were exasperated against those who sold their land, and consequently 
said many hard things against them, and also against the government 
and its officers. I also explained to the white people the cause of my 
speaking to the Indians. I furthermore remarked, that I had no 
claim, no interest to be effected by whatever course might be pur- 
sued ; but that I disliked to see the Messrs. Ewing cheating and de- 
frauding the Indians, and their neighbors, in the manner already 
alluded to. I would further state, that in the early part of that day, 
(Sunday,) I was sent for by the Indians. I went, and found them 
assembled. One of them had risen to speak, when the agent. Col. 
Pepper, came up, and informed me that it was unlawful to hold coun- 
sel with the Indians. Upon this statement being made, I immediate- 
ly left. After this I had frequent conversations with the Indians, 
in which they mentioned the cause of their grief, which was the 
sale of their lands. Thus, Sir, I have given you a full, fair, and 
candid statement of the facts as they occurred with which I have 
been identified. I have been thus full, to show the reasons and the 
feelings that actuated me in the part I took in the affair of the fall of 
1836. In conclusion I will say, as I have stated before, that many 
witnesses, whose evidence has been adduced before you, have blend- 
ed the remarks made by me with those made by the Indian Chiefs 
who spoke ; and I do most solemnly aver that I did not say any thing, 
either directly or indirectly, of the government or its officers ; and as 
to the statement made in the letter purporting to have been written 
by some Indians, but actually written by George W. Ewing, they 
are false ! positively false ! 

A. COQUILLARD. 



LETTER OF E. V. CICOTT. 

Logansport, June 20th. 1837. 
Hon. J. W. Edmonds. 

Sir, — Unavoidable circumstances having prevented me from at- 
tending the Court of Investigation held by you, as Commissioner 
on the part of the United States, and the Potawatamie Indians, un- 
der instructions from the War Department ; and understanding that 
charges of a foul character had been made against me by G. W. 
Ewing, implicating my character and conduct as one of the indi- 
viduals selected by Col. Pepper and Capt. Simonton at the last pay- 
ment of annuities to the above-named Indians, to examine and pay 
claims presented against them on that occasion ; I deem it my 
duty to give you a brief and explanatory statement of the facts con- 
nected with that transaction so far as it regards the claim of Silas 
Atchison. 

In the fall of 1835, Silas Atchison had a claim against the Pota- 
watamies of the Wabash for labor and depredations, amounting to 



27 

five hundred dollars ; it appears that ho had made several attempts to 
get that amount from the Indians, but had always failed. He came 
to me some time after the payment of 1835, and proposed that if I 
would collect his claim, he would give me the half of it for my 
trouble. I took it, under the honest conviction that I could not col- 
lect more than half of it, as there were a great many claims of the 
same nature existing against the Indians. I, however, took the as- 
signment on the back of said claim, and gave him my receipt for 
the same. 

Whilst acting as Commissioner at Judge Polke's house last fall, 
I presented to the gentlemen composing that board " the Atchison 
claim," and left the room immediately, to afford them an opportunity 
of acting upon it during my absence. On my return into the room I 
found $250 of the same entered on the list of claims allowed ; that 
amount I presented to Silas Atchison the same day, and he paid me, 
agreeably to promise, $125. 

Can it be possible that such a transaction could have been re- 
ceived by any person (unless he be an individual devoid of honor 
and moral rectitude) in any other light than an honest and fair trans- 
action. Such, however, as it is, I submit to your consideration, 
believing that you will do me ample and impartial justice. 

With much respect, 1 am 

Your ob't Servant, 

E. V. CICOTT. 



EXTRACT FROM A LETTER FROM COL. EWING 
TO THE COMMISSIONER. 

N. B. As to the reference made to me by E. V. Cicott, in his 
recent communication to you, I will barely remark, that the un- 
disproved fact that he fraudulently obtained $2393.00 from the Wa- 
bash Potawatamies in Sept. 1836, and that he subsequently appro- 
priated $125 to his oicn use when acting as a distributing Commis- 
sioner or mob man, without any honest consideration ; and all these 
facts appearing in evidence before you, is deemed a full and suffi. 
cient reply and refutation to any thing he may have said relative to 
me. 

It now remains to be determined, from the future action of the go- 
vernment, whether those Indians will or will not be protected from 
such open, notorious, and flagrant yrawc^s; perhaps Mr. Cicott could 
give you some information as to the two boxes of Indian money, 
which it seems has not yet been accounted for to you ; let an honest 
inquiry be continued, " villany will out." 

I remain with great respect, 

your most ob't servant, 

G. W. EWING. 

Ho?f. J. W. Edmoxds, U. S. Commissioner. 
June 21st. 1837. 



28 



LETTER FROM COL. EWING TO THE COMMISSIONER. 

Logansport, June 27th. 1837. 

Hon. J. W. Edmonds. 

Sir, — In the hopes that this will find you safe and comfortable 
at Detroit. I have taken the liberty of again reminding you of my 
former request, namely, that you would oblige us with a copy of 
Mr. Howard's communication to you ; and also of Mr. Taber's evi- 
dence as given in before you, as I did not receive them from Judge 
Polke's. I conclude you found yourself too much fatigued to copy 
them there. 

On the subject of Coquillard's letter, which you was good 
enough to show me, I have to say that it is a base fabrication of 
falsehoods so far as it relates to my brother and myself; and as it 
was personal and abusive towards us, I hope you will see at once the 
propriety of suppressing it. If such Billingsgate efiasions as are con- 
tained in that communication, be receivable in place of plain matters 
of fact explanatory of our conduct or acts, it would then indeed be 
by no means strange that the greatest rascal would make himself 
out the most honest man. 

I could give the pedigree of the villain Coquillard, from his boyish 
days among the renegade British Canadians, (who fled from our 
side, and went into Upper Canada during the last war,) at Maiden, 
insulting and torturing the American prisoners, and practising out- 
rages upon their persons and their feelings. 

I could trace the same Brilish-hearted rascal, during his inter- 
course among our Indians since the late war up to the present pe- 
riod ; and prove upon him that he has ever opposed the measures of 
our government, and done much towards alienating these people from 
it ; and at every treaty I ever saw him at, he has notorious- 
ly opposed, vilified, and traduced the officers of the Federal govern- 
ment. At the late treaty in Sept. 1836, he used all his influence to 
excite the British and Catholic Indians to acts of violence, and urged 
them to go forward and shed blood. 

Will the General Government brook such open insult as has been 
fully proven against that man ? and will Mr. Howard be justified in 
his demagogue course ? 

This is a subject to which the attention of members of Congress 
will be called. In my opinion, that gentleman, after having refused to 
enforce the laws of Congress, notwithstanding he had been ful- 
ly advised that they had been outraged, (the information having 
been given by Col. Pepper, Indian Agent, more than six months ago.) 
took upon himself to speak of responsibility, &c. It is well ; and 
so far as he is concerned, he had better look to it ; he will hear of it 
on the floor of Congress, as well as in the public prints of our own 
State. 

I feel a particular solicitude to know what your report will be rela- 
tive to the late claims laid before you, especially our own ; and am of 
opinion, that it would greatly facilitate the removing agent ; for it is 



29 

not to be presumed that any of those Indians will agree to move out 
of the State until advised that their just debts are paid and suitably 
provided for. This determination they have invariably expressed. 
It is my wish and desire, however, that nothing may occur to de- 
tain them here any longer ; but that Col. Sands may succeed in tak- 
ing them all off this fall. 

With great respect, 

your ob't, humble serv't, 

GEO. W. EWING. 



LETTER OF JOSEPH BARRON TO THE COMMISSIONER. 

Indian Agency. 

Longansport, Ind. June 19th. 1837. 

Sir, — I have had an opportunity of examining my testimony as 
given and signed before you. The condensed manner in which you 
have to take all testimony down, is my apology for writing you this 
letter, with the request that you will lay it before the proper depart- 
ment. I have now to reiterate, in a few words, what I have stated 
before to you under oath ; but, to be briefj I will refer you to my tes- 
timony as given, (and say, upon examination of it,) I find nothing 
but what is strictly correct. I know that the letter was wrote at 
my house by Mr. G. W. Ewing, at the request of the Indians, and 
forwarded to the President. Things are told in that letter, (a copy of 
which you have,) which was not in the original, and never was inter- 
preted by me for the Indians, or requested by the Indians to be said 
to the President. The main object of the Indians in having the letters 
wrote, was, that their Great Father should send a Commissioner to 
settle their pecuniary affairs without making specific charges against 
any individuals, particularly against the Agent, Col. Pepper ; the In- 
dians all know that he is a faithful public officer, and a good father 
to them. I have been in the government service for nearly forty 
years, and now getting old. I was the interpreter to Gen'l. Harri- 
son at post Vincennes, and have since been identified with all the 
treaties made in the country as interpreter. I followed my Chiefs, 
Gen'l Harrison and Tipton, and was with them at the battle of Tip- 
picanoe. Since then I have been the Government interpreter for 
this Agency. Now, my dear Sir, I have the painful duty to ac- 
knowledge that I have acted improperly, and deserved the censure 
of my officer, Col. Pepper, and the President, for doing as I have 
innocently done ; that is, allow Mr. Ewing to hold a council with 
the Indians for whom I am interpreter, and allowing myself to be 
deceived by him relative to the contents of the letter alluded to ; 
and also that I did not demand or retain the said letter until my of- 
ficer. Col. Pepper, had approved of it. You will please to understand 
me distinctly, that no reproaches were made in the original letter 
interpreted by me for the Indians, against Col. Pepper. I must say, 
in conclusion, that I beg the favor of the Department that I may iu 



30 

my old age be retained in the public service ; and through the medium 
of this letter, to add my regrets that I have in any manner, innocent- 
ly been the cause of injuring the feelings of my good officer. To 
him I owe an additional apology for allowing myself to witness a 
document purporting to be what the Indians said, which they did 
not say ; neither was Mr. Ewing authorized to say what he has said 
in that letter. I am not able to read or write English as well as 
many others, and it being the habit with me to depend upon my of- 
ficer to take down what the Indians say in writing correctly, I did 
not examine the letter after Mr. Ewing had wrote it, and was there- 
fore greatly deceived by him. It is a good lesson forme, and I never 
will again be deceived by bad men, and do things, even innocently, 
in the absence of my officer, that I afterwards regret. 

It was the intention of the Indians, and expressed by them, that 
the letter was to be given to Col. Pepper, and by him forwarded to 
the President. I never interpreted the letter as it now reads. Had I 
done so, the President would do but justice in turning me out of 
public employment, even with the recommendation of forty years 
faithful service heretofore. This bad man has deceived me, he has 
deceived the Indians ; and to gratify his personal feelings against in- 
dividuals, he represents the Indians to say, and me to have inter- 
preted, what they never said. 

I hope you will be satisfied with my statement, and will beg the 
favor of you, to make such report to the Department as will explain 
the manner in which I have been deceived. 

Very respectfully, 

JOSEPH BARRON. 
Hon. J. W Edmoxds, 

Commissioner for investigating 
for Potawatamie Indians. 



LETTER OF PETER BARRON TO THE COMMISSIONER. 

Logansport, 23d. June, 1837. 

SiK, — Having understood that you depart in the morning, I feel 
it my duty to mention some facts that are not contained in my tes- 
timony as given before you. You are aware that Mr. G. W. Ewing 
and his counsel, both insisted before you, during the time that my 
examination was going on, that I should be allowed to read the let- 
ter to which my name is appended as a witness, as they had ; and 
you readily granted their request. You also recollect, that during the 
investigation of that letter, the original was called for, and the 
statement was made that it was at Washington City. Now, Sir, I 
have to state that the said Mr. G. W. Ewing handed me the ori- 
ginal letter, to which my own hand-writing as witness is appended, 
to read at his own house, previous to his request that I should have 
the liberty of reading the copy in your possession ; and I do believe 



31 

that the original letter mentioned, and <he copy you have, differ in 
substance ; and am certain that I signed but one letter as a witness. 

PETER BARON. 



LETTER FRONCOMMISSISSIONER TO COL. EWING. 

Detroit, Sept. 15th. 1837. 

Sir, — On the morning that I left Logansport, a letter was put in- 
to my hands, signed by Peter Barron, in which he states that he wit- 
nessed only one letter from the Chiefs of the Wabash Potawatamies 
to the President ; that the letter which he signed, and which was that 
signed by the Chiefs, he saw in your possession at Logansport 
while I was there ; and that he believes it to be ditferent from the 
copy which I had and used on the investigation. 

This statement was, under the circumstances, so extraordinary, 
that I felt myself called upon to procure the original letter from 
Washington before I would give credit to it. On my arrival at 
this place I wrote to the Commissioner of Indian atfairs, and have 
received the paper from him. 

I regret to say that an inspection of it confirms the statement of 
Barron. It is evident that the names of the witnesses to it were 
not written by those individuals, but they are apparently all in the 
same hand-writing. Gosland, you are aware, cannot write at all ; 
hut his name is written in full ; and the other signatures are widely 
different from those with which I became acquainted as the genuine 
hand-writing of the persons named. 

You will perceive how serious is the charge which may be made 
in reference to this paper, and how difficult it will be for me, with- 
out an inspection of the paper in your hands, to determine its ac- 
curacy. 

I must therefore request that you will forward to me by mail, di- 
rected to me at Hudson, the original letter to which Barron refers. 

You will perceive that there is not now any genuine letter from 
the Chiefs before the government. That which I was directed to 
investigate, has been disputed, in whole or in part, by the Chiefs, 
and by the witnesses to it ; and an inspection of the paper itself is 
against its authenticity. Of course I cannot permit myself to doubt 
that the paper which I have is a correct copy of the original in 
your possession ; but I cannot know or say that it is so until I sec 
the original ; nor will it until then be in my power to remove the 
imputations which may grow out of the state of things as they now 
exist before me. 

I hope to receive your early answer, as my report will be delayed 
until then. 

I am very resp'y. 
Your ob't serv't, 

J. W. EDMONDS. 
U. S. Commissioner. 

To CoL. G. W. EwiNG. 



32 



LETTER OF THE CHIEFS AS TRANSMITTED. 

To our Great Father, 

Andrew Jackson, 

President of the United States. 

Father, — We, the undersigned, Chiefs, Head-men, and Warriors 
of the Wabash Potawatamie Indians of the Eel River Agency, 
have come into this place, having escaped from the late payment 
ground in our own country under cover and protection of the troops ; 
and in this manner we fled from our homes and villages here, in the 
hopes of finding security and protection for ourselves and families, 
from the Catholic and hostile British Indians of the north, and their 
evil advisers ; namely, a gi-eat number of degraded Frenchmen and 
half-bloods, who live near to and among the St. Joseph's Indians, 
and who have been active in exciting those deluded Indians to fall 
upon and massacre us. 

Father, — We have always listened well to your good advice and 
wise counsels, and we find them good. We know you are a great 
brave, and good man ; that you will do as you promise. We come 
now with sore hearts, and our minds filled with sorrow, to speak with 
you and tell you true. We intended to speak to you through our 
Father whom you have placed near us, (Col. Pepper,) but he has 
gone away, and can't hear us. Before we had signed treaties to 
him, Father, for all our lands, he was always ready to hear us, and 
to promise us the protection of your strong arm ; but now he has our 
treaties in his pocket for our entire country, he has no time to hear 
us, nor to protect us in our present deplorable situation. Sold out of 
house and home, and without a father to provide for, protect, or 
otherwise take care of us, and hourly in danger (if we return to our 
villages) of being massacred by those hostile Indians who have 
ever refused to listen to your good counsels as well as to ours. 
We wish and intend to follow the advice and counsels of our Great 
Father, and to look to him for support and protection — that protec- 
tion which has been promised us, and which was a strong inducement 
with us when we sold all our lands, and for which we have incurred the 
vengeance of our bad people. Again, we saw there were too many 
white people about our reserves for us to live on them in peace, and 
we signed a general treaty in September last, selling all our lands 
to our Great Father, and agreed to go west of the Mississippi, and 
accept of that home he had there provided for us. Father, so soon 
as this fact was known to the Catholic Indians, who resided on 
these last-sold reserves, and to those St. Joseph's and Chicago renegade 
Indians who have collected on them, in great numbers, and all of us 
being now assembled together near the Tippecanoe River, where we 
were to receive our money, a great excitement prevailed ; those In- 
dians who opposed us, held a council of war, and resolved that every 
one of us who had signed the treaty should be killed ; and they pro- 
ceeded to appoint war chiefs, whose duty it should be, and now is, 
to see their decree put in execution. We were immediately 



S3 

menaced, and insulted by them, and told what we had to expect from 
them ; and on the next day,being the day on which we had received our 
annuity and treaty money, the house we were in transacting our busi. 
ness, was surrounded by those Indians, and their associates and ad- 
visers, the clan of Frenchmen before spoken of, and our lives were 
threatened on every side. Alexander Coquillard, a bad man, who 
has always opposed our Great Father's policy, was among them 
and at the head of the assailants ; he got upon a house, and made a 
speech to the hostile Indians, and urged them to kill us ; he told them 
we were not Chiefs, that we were boys and hog-thieves ; that the 
President of the United States was a bad man, a rascal, and that he 
had stolen the Indians' lands ; that he was now robbing them of their 
money (because we were willing to pay our just debts), and that he 
would next send us away like dogs west of the Mississippi, wliere we 
would be poor and unhappy. He then got up John B. Shadrina, a 
Potawamie half-blooded Indian, who repeated again, loud and plain, 
what Coquillard had before said to all uie Indians. 

Father : — We will now return to what we wish to say about our 
money, most of which we were robbed of and cheated out of by bad 
white men, as you will soon hear. We received from Captain Si- 
nionton $64000,00, and gave him our receipt ; he is a good man, and 
treated us very kindly ; and so did our Agent, Col. Pepper, whom we 
also love and respect. They took some of this money, with our cou- 
sent and approbation, te pay depredation claims ; the amount was 
about #12500. This was very right. The balance was all delivered to 
us after we had given our receipts to Capt. Simonton for it; and we 
were then told by them that the money belonged to us, that it was 
what our great father owed us for our lands, and we had a right 
to do what we thought proper with it ; but our Father, Colonel Pepper, 
advised us to pay our debts and act like honest men ; to which we 
replied that we intended to do so, and accordingly had got two of 
our friends (men whom we knew were honest and capable) 
to aid and assist us in counting and paying such of our debts as we 
should direct. These two men are Cyrus Taber and George W. 
Ewing, known to us as Miami-mo and Show-o-no-mo — they live in 
Logansport. Our Father, Col. Pepper, promised also to help us, and 
to stay with and protect us, and keep proper order until we could do 
our business ; it would have required about one day. We began 
paying oti' such of our debts as we knew to be justly due from us, 
and we rejected and refused to pay such as we know were not pro- 
per ; (ot this description there were a great number.) At the pay- 
ment, the year before, we had settled with all our traders, had then 
paid them a part, and agreed to pay them another part this year. 
A list of those claims was left with our Agent, Col. Pepper. He 
called them over one by one, we ordered them paid so far as we 
thought just, and the two men we had there to assist us, paid out 
our money as we directed them. We found two large sums on 
that schedule at the bottom, that had never been allowed by us ; they 
were put on the next day (we afterwards learned) by some person 
improperly, and without our knowledge and consent. These two 
large sums, amounting in all to six thousand dollars, we refused to 



u 

pay, because we did not owe them. We proceeded to pay such 
claims as we knew to be due from us. We gave Joseph Barron, our 
old friend, who has always divided his last shilling with us, who had 
supplied us with goods, provit^ions, and horses for the last year, in 
all, the amount of sJioSOO. This sum, added to the amount we owed 
him on the schedule of last year, viz. $2500, made in all eight 
boxes. This amount we paid over to him in open council; our 
friends whom we had appointed for that purpose counted it out to 
him, he took it away and put it in his house close by. The next 
man we paid was our friend Ewing (Show-o-no-mo), of the firm of 
Ewing, Walker 6c Co. of Logansport. This man we owed as fol- 
lows, viz. amounts advanced hy him to our people under General 
Marshall's treaties in Dec. 1834, in all $6200, for which he has the 
receipts of the different bands ; amount due him on schedule of August 
1835, in the hands of Agent, $6450 ; thiis was for goods and provi. 
sions advanced and trusted out to the Wabash Patawatomies by 
him at Fort Wayne and Logansport since the treaty of October 
1832, and up to that date as schedule shows ; amount advanced by 
him under the treaties made by Col. Pepper, our Agent, this last year, 
in all $11500 ; and amount advanced by him in goods and provisions 
after settlement with us in August 1835, and until the time of last 
payment in Sept. 1836, $7850 ; making in all $32,000. We had ex- 
amined all of his vouchers and accounts, and were fully satisfied that 
we owed him that amount. We therefore gave him our note for the 
whole amount, and agreed to pay him the one half of it this year, 
and the other half next spring. With this understanding he was 
satisfied, and so were we ; for we would have paid him more if he 
had insisted on it. He is and has long been our great friend, has ever 
supplied and supported us. We have known him as our trader for fif- 
teen years ; he speaks our language well, is a good man to us and 
to our people ; they all like him, for he never refuses to clothe or 
to feed us. Had it not been for him, during the last year we must 
have suffered, and our children starved for bread. He paid out his 
money to purchase flour and bacon in large quantities (which was 
very high and hard to get) ; and with this he supplied all the Wabash 
Potawatamies who called on him. It was both our wish and our 
interest to pay such a friend, and to support him, in return, when it 
was in our power to do so. He told us it was necessary for him to 
have money, that he too was in debt, that he owed his friends in 
Nevv-York, where he had got blankets and rifles for us ; that he 
wanted to pay those men to get more goods. We therefore paid him 
as we had agreed to do — the half of his claim, namely, sixteen boxes ; 
and we, with our own hands, in open council, counted and laid them 
aside for him. The next friend was Cyrus Tabcr. This man stood 
in a similar relation to us that our friend Ewing did ; we call him 
Mi-ami-mo ; all our people know him, go to his house and are well 
treated by him. We owed him in all, under General Marshall's 
and Col. Pepper's treaties, and for other advances made by him up 
to that time, (embracing $4000, which we agreed last year to pay 
him this year, as our schedule will show,) in all the sum of sixteen 
thousand dollars. His account had been examined and explained to 



85 

us, and we were satisfied of its correctness. We therefore agreed 
to pay liim eight hoxes this year, being the one half of the entire 
amount of his demand ; and to pay him the remainder next spring. 
He has always been a good man to us, and supplied us when we 
were in need. We therefore selected him and Ewing as our friends 
with whom we would do all our business, and we did so almost exclu- 
sively. We always counselled and advised with them before we sold 
any of our lands ; for although we love our Agent, and believe him 
to be a good Father and an honest man, yet we did not know him 
as well as we did these two friends of ours, who have lived here 
among us for many years. They advised us to sell our lands to 
you, and to do in all cases as our Great Father would advise — to 
look to no one but him — that he was the Great Father of all the 
Americans, was a great, good, and just man ; and that he would be 
a good father to us if we would be obedient children to him ; that he 
would take care'of us, and enable us to pay our just debts, and to go 
from thi« country in peace. This was the kind of counsel they 
gave us, and they went out among our people this last spring and 
summer, and helped Col. Pepper make all his treaties ; so when we 
heard the same talk from Col. Pepper, from our old friend Josa, and 
from these two last friends, we believed what we heard, and we sold 
our lands to our Great Father. In all cases the protection of our 
Great Father was promised us, and that our just debts should be 
paid, or that we would have money enough sent to us by our Great 
Father to pay them. In this we don't say we have been deceived, 
for our hearts were glad when we saw you had sent us so many boxes 
of money this year; and had we not been abused and robbed by bad 
white men of our money, our hearts would yet have been glad, and 
our honest debts paid. 

Father, — When the white people found we were willing to pay 
our honest debts, and that we were willing to appropriate the most 
of our money for this purpose, they began to make papers (i. e. 
claims) ; and in this way, and upon the payment-ground whilst we 
were transactinjr our own business, and trying to do what was right 
and honest, claims and papers, amounting to near $200,000, were 
made (most of them there on the ground), and pushed in upon for 
immediate payment. We told the people to be patient, and we 
would take up the claims one by one, call in the claimant, and, so 
far as he could satisfy us that we owed, we would agree to it and 
pay a part then, the balance next year. This did not seem to please 
or satisfy them. Many large claims were urged by men from the 
river Rasin, and from Detroit, and from Post Vincennes, of twenty- 
five and thirty years standing ; these we have no knowledge of, be- 
lieve they are not just, and are not willing to pay any such claims. 
All these claims were paid by us in the treaties of 1826, 1828, and 
1832 ; and some of them paid two or three times over. These 
claimants, after getting drunk, the most of them, and being joined 
by Coquillard and many other bad Frenchmen from St. Josephs, 
and the hostile Indians, rushed into the house in part, and others 
began to tear it down, crying out, *' we will take the money by force ;" 
and in this way a general " mob " took place. We, who were the 



35 

proper owners of that money, were entirely disregarded or abused, 
and insulted ; and in this angry, rude, and insulting manner, with 
clubs, pistols, dirks, and guns in their hands, they seized upon our 
money and took it from us. They then took from our friends, Ewing, 
Taber, and Barron, the money we had paid them. By this time the 
Ao^ent, Col. Pepper, had partly succeeded in quieting the mob ; but 
they were very abusive, and so were the hostile Indians, towards us. 
It was now night ; we heard from every side that we were all to be 
killed, and dreading such consequence, we went to our Agent, and 
reminded him of his promise that he ivnnld protect vs, and that we 
expected him to do so, that we had not done any thing wrong as 
we were aware of. He spoke like a man to us, and said that the 
Great Father never broke his word ; and that he (the Agent) would 
protect us, or would die with us ; to be quiet and kee[)' still, and 
leave the balance to him. Tiiis speecti he made to us through our 
friend bowing, and we belie-ved it. Ewing then told us not to fear; 
that the strong arm of our Great Fatiier was near at hand, and that 
it should be over and protect us before the setting of anothei sun. 
He encouraged some of our Chiefs and young warriors, and told 
them to defend themselves if attacked. This friend gave us much 
good advice, and was frequently with us. The night was spent in 
great suspense ; we did not sleep, for we expected to be attacked, 
and all killed. The next day was a tedious and long day- The St. 
Josephs' Indians and Frenchmen held frequent councils all that day, 
and rinally despatched two of their war- chiefs, Asli-kum and Ship. 
she-waw-a-noo, followed by about three hundred young Indians of 
the hostile party, to the council-house ; and there they elevated them- 
selves (the two Chiefs) upon a large box directly in front of the 
Agent's house, where he, tlie paymaster, and ourselves were. They 
there made long and 7nost injiammatory speeches against us and against 
our Great Father. They repeated in substance what had been said the 
day previous by Coquillard and Shadrina on the house-top. They 
said the President of the United States was a rascal — that he had 
lied to, and cheated them ; that he had stolen our lands, and had made 
chiefs out of boys and hog-thieves ; that we were not Chiefs, and 
should all be killed. About this time good news came, and we were 
informed that troops were at hand ; that one hundred young braves 
were then on their march to the camp to protect us, and to see that 
the name of our Great Father was not insulted. It was true ; for 
they came, and they looked like warriors, and they were all well 
armed, they marched into the camp. The bad Indians and the bad 
white people gave way, one of the young braves planted the flag of 
our Great Father on the top of the council-house, and neither the 
bad Frenchmen nor the British or Catholic Indians dared disturb it. 
This was very gratifying to us ; for we saw, that although they dislik- 
ed the strong arm of our Great Father, yet they had not the cou- 
rage to insult and disturb it. Then our hearts were glad, and we felt 
protected. We then agreed, in order to satisfy the white people 
that we wanted to do what was right, that Col. Pepper and Capt. 
Simonton might select five good white men more, who should be en- 
tirely disinterested; and that they should be under our control; 



87 

should help us pay out part of our money to our own people, and 
that they then should pay out such sums on the different claims 
against us as we should direct them to pay, after having first 
examined the claim and satisfied ourselves it was just. To do this, it 
was thought best to remove the money from the payment ground to 
Judge Polke's, about three miles distant. Accordingly five men were 
named by our Agent ; but he did not select good or honest men, nor 
were they disinterested. They proved to be very bad men, as you 
shall soon hear; and they too joined in with those bad white people 
who had false claims against our people, and among them all we 
have been shamefully abused, wronged, and robbed of our annuity; 
our just debts are not paid, but a large sum, amounting to near ibrty 
boxes, of our money were lavished out by these five bad men ; and 
in many cases on claims in which they were interested, or had been 
bribed to get allowed. Our Agent, after having told these men that 
they were to pay out that money as we should direct, and presuming, 
we suppose, that there would be no further trouble about it, left us, 
and went into Logansport, which we were very sorry for. He had 
promised, and we think he should have staid with us until we had 
finished our business ; for no sooner had he left, than those five mea 
took full possession of our money. We were not permitted to go 
into the house, but were turned out ; and told that we had nothing to 
do with that money ; that they were going to do as they pleased 
with it, and truly they did so. And we have good reasons tor be- 
lieving that their own pockets were not a little benefitted by the 
transaction. They never examined one single claim, nor asked us 
whether we did or did not owe certain claimants ; but gave it out 
thus arbitrarily, or kept it themselves in part, we know not how, 
nor will they ever give us a list of the names of the persons to whom 
they paid away our money. Father, is not this robbery ? and will 
you suffer us to be thus abused ? We owed honest debts, and were 
anxious to pay them ; but we w^anled the privilege of settling those 
debts ourselves. We are told and believe that those men paid seve- 
ral large sums or claims, on the condition that lor getting them al- 
lowed they should have ttie one-half; and we are told this can be 
positively proven in several cases. We think our Father, Col. Pep- 
per, ought to have remained and protected us from such vile impo- 
sitions. We think it was his duty to have remained there until we 
could have disposed of that money on behalf of our people as they 
desired it done ; they and ourselves were the proper owners of it ; 
it was taken from us forcibly ; our friends, whom we justly owe, are 
not paid ; they are injured and wronged ; and yet to them we must 
again look for aid and support, tor we have no money, and those 
who have cheated us out of our money are gone we know not 
where. 

Father, — We came in here from necessity, as before stated ; and 
yet the Agent has provided us no prdvisions. We are supported by 
our friends Barron, Ewing and T.iber ; they are supplying us with 
beef and bread for ourselves and families. We wanted to talk to 
our Father, the Agent, but he left this morning. It is true we have 
no more lands to sell, but we hope our Great Father will not refuse 



3i 

to listen to his red cliildren because they have no more land to 
sell. We have sold all our country to you, Father, because you told 
us you wished us to do so ; and we are always willing to listen to 
your good counsels. 

Pather, We want you to send a good man here to look into this 

business for us, to get back our money that the bad white men have 
stolen from us. We don't want to pay claims that are not just, 
but we want to pay those that are just. We wanted our friends 
Ewing and Taber paid first of all ; and we want you, Father, now to 
see that they are paid. We are ashamed and mortified, because 
these two men are not paid. Jt is the voice of the whole of the 
Wabash Potawatamies that they should be paid ; we all know their 
claims to be just, and we all again unite is asking you to cause 
them to be paid out of the first money due us from you. There is 
one man, N. D. Grover, whom we paid all up last year ; he came 
on again this year with another large claim ; this we don't think is 
just, but we believe this man has cheated and wronged us. Our 
people never got much from him, and we learn he has got a large 
amount of our money this year again. And Edward V. Cicott ; 
this man we paid a large claim to last year, amount 82300. Vv'e 
did not justly owe it, nor more than one-fourth of it ; but we gave it 
to him ; and this year he has managed to get $3500 more of our 
money for nothing, and most unjustly. We owed him nothing, at 
farthest not to exceed $500. These things are very wrong, and we 
want you to protect us from such imposition and frauds. Cicott 
was one of the five nien selected to help us settle our business, (they 
were all to be entirely disinterested persons,) and he continued to 
defraud us out of near $4000. Grover was one of the drunken 
mob-men, and has been paid for his rascality by receiving $3000 or 
$4000 of our money for nothing. 

Father, — We have now told you the truth about our situa- 
tion, and as to the shameful manner in which our money has 
been taken from us ; and we ask you to hear the truth, inquire 
into the outrage, and to do us justice. Next and lastly, as to 
ourselves; you see our situation, we are here without an Agent 
or a Father, destitute of money, afraid to return with our families 
to our villages, for our lives are threatened, and bad Indians are 
waiting for us. We hear from them daily. We are not afraid to 
die, nor do we want to shed the blood of our own people. If we 
have done wrong, it has been in listening to your counsels ; but we 
still think we have done right; and we want our Great Father to 
send a good talk to this frontier, tell those bad Indians and the bad 
white people too, that they must not do as they have done, and 
that you will punish them for the injury they have already done. 
Father, — the cause of the great trouble was in part owing to the 
large sum of money you had sent us ; which caused bad men, both 
red and white, from every quarter to gather in upon us ; and our 
Agent was without a guard, or any way of defending himself. But 
the great difficulty was the fact of our having sold out those re. 
maining reserves upon which the Catholic and British Indians, 
French and half-French, and the priest, reside. Those Indians had re- 



39 



fused to sell and remove west, and they had shut their ears against 
your counsel. Th(;y have sworn to kill us for having signed the 
treaty; and we much fear they will execute their wicked designs, un- 
less awed from it by a strong talk from you, or unless you send some 
of your troops here early next spring. We expect the protection 
of our Great Father, we hope he will not forget us ; if he does, we 
will most likely be killed by our bad people. You have promised 
us your protection and friendship. We want it now, or we are lost. 
A bad fate awaits us if you don't take some active measures to 
save us. 

Father, — What we have said, comes through our hearts ; it is 
true, and we have nothing more to say. 

LoGANSPORT, Indiana, 

October 18th, 1836. 



Witnesses present, g o 

Peter Barron, "^ g 
Anthony Barron, ^ -^ 
Andrew Gossland,^^"^ 
Andrew Jackson, .SJ <u 
Joseph Barron. q -^ 



t^ o 

a. u 
o o 



o ;? cs 



H T3 



Pash-po-ho, his X mark. 
0-Kah-maus, his X mark. 
I-o-weh, his >«!j mark. 
M-jo-auiss, his x mark. 
Wee-wee-sah, his x mark. 
No-TAvv-KAY, his X mark. 
Po-KAH-GAUS, his X mark. 
Nas-waw-kay, his X mark. 
Ke-waw-nay, his X mark. 
Mat-chis-saw, his x mark. 
Nee-boosh, his X mark. 
Pee-pin-a-naw, his x mark. 
To-posh, his X mark. 



ORIGINAL LETTER OF THE CHIEFS TO THE PRESI- 
DENT. 

To our Great Father, Andrew Jackson, President of the United 

States. 

We the undersigned. Chiefs, head-men and warriors of the Wabash 
Potawatamie Indians of the Eel River Agency, came in here, hav- 
ing escaped from the Indian country under cover of the troops ; and 
in this manner fled from our homes and villages to this place, in the 
hope of finding protection and security for ourselves and families 
from the Catholic and hostile British Indians of the north, and their 
evil advisers, namely, a great number of degraded Frenchmen and 
half-blooded Indians, who live near to and among the St. Joseph In- 
dians, and who have been active in inciting those Indians to fall 
upon and massacre us. 

Our Father, we have always listened well to your advice and wise 
counsels, and we find them good. We know you are a great brave, 
a good man ; and that you will do as you promise. We therefore 
come now with sore hearts, and with our minds filled with sorrow^ 
to speak with you and to tell you the truth. We intended to speak 



40 

tt) you through our Father, whom you had placed here near to us, 
(Col. Pepper) ; but he has gone away, and cant hear us. Before we 
had signed treaties to him for all of our lands, he was always ready 
to hear us, and to promise us the protection of your strong arm ; 
but now that he has our treaties in his pocket for our entire country, 
he has no time to hear us nor to protect us in our present deplora- 
ble situation. Sold out of house and home, and without a father to 
provide for and take care of us, and hourly in danger (if we return 
to our villages) of being massacred by those hostile Indians who 
have refused to listen to our counsels and to yours too. We wish 
and intend to follow the advice and counsels of our Great Father, 
and look to him for support and protection ; that protection which 
has been promised us, and which was one of the inducements held 
out to us on selling all our lands. Again, we saw there were too 
many white people about our reserves for us to live on them in 
peace ; and we signed a general treaty in September last, selling 
all our country to our Great Father, and agreed to go west of the 
Mississippi, and accept of that home he had there provided for us. 

Our Father, so soon as this fact was known to the Catholic In- 
dians who resided on these last sold reserves, and to those St. Jo- 
seph and Chicago renegade Indians who had collected on them in 
great numbers (and all of us being now assembled together near 
the Tippecanoe, where we were to receive our money,) a great ex- 
citement prevailed. Those Indians who opposed us, and held a coun- 
oil of war, resolved that every one of us who had signed the treaty 
should be killed ; and proceeded to appoint four war-chiefs, whose 
duty it should be and is to see that decree put in execution. We were 
immedialely menaced and insulted by them, and told what we had 
to expect ; and on the next day, being the day on which we had re- 
ceived our annuity and treaty money, the house we were in transact, 
ing our business was surrounded by those Indians, and their associates 
and advisers, the clan of Frenchmen before spoken of, and our lives 
were threatened on every side. Alexander Coquillard, a bad man, 
who was always opposed to our Great Father's policy, was among 
them ; and at the head of the assassins, he got upon a house and 
made a speech to the hostile Indians encamped there to kill us ; said 
we were not Chiefs; that we were boys and hog-thieves ; that the 
President of the United States was a rascal, and had stolen the In. 
dians' land ; that he was now robbing them of their money, and that 
he would next send them west of the great river, where they would 
be poor and unhappy. He then got up John B. Shadrina, a Pota. 
watamie Indian, who repeated again, loud and plain, to all tlie Indians 
what he had before said. Our Father, we vvdl now return to what 
we wish to say about our money, most of which we were robbed of, 
and cheated out of, by bad white men, as you will soon hear. 

We received from Captain Simonton 840,000, and gave him our 
receipt. He is a good man, and treated us very kindly. He took some 
of this, about $2,500, to pay depredation claims. This was right; 
the balance was delivered to us after we had given our receipt to 
him for it ; and we were told that the money belonged to us ; that it 
was what our Great Father owed us for land, and that we had a 



41 

right to do what we thought proper with it ; but our father, Col, 
Pepper, advised us to pay our debts and act like honest men. This 
we intended to do, and accordingly had got two of our friends 
(men whom we knew to be honest and capable) to aid and assist us 
in counting, and paying such of our debts as Wshould direct. These 
two men are Cyrus Taber and George W. Ewing ; they live in 
Logansport. Our father. Col. Pepper, promised also to help us, 
and to stay with and protect us, and keep proper order until we 
could do our business ; it would have required about one day. We 
began paying off such debts as we knew to be justly due from us, and 
we rejected such as we knew were not proper. At the payment, the 
year before, we had settled with all our traders, paid them part, and 
agreed to pay another part this year. A list of these claims was 
left with our agent, Col. Pepper ; he called them over one by one ; 
we ordered them paid so far as we thought just, and the two men 
we had there to assist us paid out our money as we directed. We 
found two large sums on that schedule that had never been allowed 
by us; they were put on the next day, (we afterwards learned.) by 
some person improperly, without our" knowledge or consent. These 
two large sums, amounting in all to $6,000, we refused to pay, be- 
cause we did not owe them. We then proceeded to pay such claims 
as we knew to be just. We gave Jos. Barron, our old friend, who 
has ever divided his last shilling with us, and who had supplied us 
with goods, provisions, and horses for the last year, in all the 
amount of $5,500. This sum, added to the sum we owed him on the 
schedule of last year, namely, $2,500, making in all eight boxes, 
we paid over to him in open council. Our friends whom we had 
appointed for that purpose, counted it out to him, and he car» 
ried it away and put it in his house. The next man we paid 
was our friend Ewing, (Show-o-no-mo) of the firm of Ewing, 
Walker & Co., of Logansport. This man we owed as follows, 
namely : — amount advanced by him to our people, under General 
Marshall's treaties in December, 1834, in all about $6,200 ; amount 
allowed him last August, (1835,) as per schedule, for goods and provi. 
sions trusted out to our people up to that time, at Fort Wayne and 
Logansport, $6450 ; amount advanced by him under the treaties 
made by Col. Pepper, our Agent, this last year, in all about $11,500; 
and amount advanced by him in goods and provisions after settle. 
ment with us in August, 1835, up to the time of the last payments, 
in all about $7,850, making in all $32,000. All of his accounts 
and vouchers we had examined, and were fully satisfied that we 
owed him that amount ; we therefore gave him our note for the 
whole amount, and agreed to pay him the one half of it this year, 
and to pay him the other next Spring. With this understanding 
he was satisfied, and so were we ; for we would have paid him more 
if he had insisted on it. He is our great friend, has ever supported 
and supplied us. We have known him as our trader for fifteen 
years ; he speaks our language well ; is a good man to us and to 
our people ; they all love him, for he never refuses to clothe or to 
feed us. Had it not been for him, during the last year we must have 
suffered, and our children starved for bread. He paid out his money 

6 



42 

to purchase flour and bacon in large quantities, and with this he 
supplied all the Wabash Potawatamies who called on him. It was 
both our wish and our interest to pay such a friend, and to support 
him in return when it was in our power to do so. He told us it was 
necessary for him to iiave money ; that he, too, owed his friends in 
New-York, where he had got blankets and guns for us ; that he 
wanted to pay those men, and to get more goods. We therefore 
paid him over, and laid aside for him sixteen boxes. 

The next friend was Cyrus Taber. Tiiis man stood in a similar 
relation to us that our friend Ewing did. We call him Miami-mo ; 
all our people know him, go to his house, and are well treated by 
him ; and we owed him in all, under Gen. Marshall's treaties and Col. 
Pepper's treaties, and for other advances made by him up to that 
time, (embracing 84000, which we agreed last year to pay him this 
year, as our schedule will show,) in all the sum of sixteen thousand 
dollars. His account had been examined and explained to us, and 
we were satisfied of its correctness. We therefore agreed to pay 
him 8 boxes this year, being the one-half of the entire amount of 
his demand, and to pay him the remainder next spring. He has 
always been a good man to us, and supplied us when we were in 
need. W^e therefore selected him and Ewing as our friends with 
whom we could do all our business, and we always counselled and 
advised with them before we sold any of our lands, or made any 
treaties with our agent, Col. Pepper ; and if they had not advised us, 
we never would have sold our lands ; for, although we love our 
Agent, and believe him to be a good father and an honest man, yet 
we did not know him as well as we did our two friends, who have 
lived here among us for many years. They advised us to sell, and to do 
in all cases as our Great Father wished us to do, and to look to 
no one but him ; that he was the father of all the Americans, was a 
great, good, and just man, and that he would be a good father to 
us if we would be good children to him. That he would take care of us, 
and enable us to pay our honest debts, and go from this country in 
peace. This was the kind of counsel they gave us ; and they went 
out among our people this spring and summer, and helped Col. 
Pepper to make all his treaties. So when we heard the same talk 
from Col. Pepper, and from Josa, and from our two friends, we be- 
lieved it, and we sold our lands. In all cases the protection of our 
Great Father was promised us, and that our just debts should be 
paid, or that we would have money enough sent to us by our Great 
Father to pay them. In this we don't say we have been deceived ; 
for our hearts were glad when we saw you had sent us so many 
boxes this summer, and had we not been robbed and abused by bad 
■white men of our money, our hearts would now have been glad. 

Our Father, — When tlie white men found we were willing to pay 
our just debts, they began to make papers, (i. e. claims) ; and in this 
way, on the payment ground, whilst we were transacting our own 
business and trying to do what was right and honest, claims and 
papers, amounting to near $200,000, were made (most of them there 
on the ground,) and pushed into us for payment. We told them to 
be patient, and we would take up the claims one by one, and call 



43 

in the white man ; and so far as he could satisfy us that we owed, 
we would agree to it, and pay a part then, the balance next year. 
This did not seem to please them ; many large claims were urged by 
men from River Rasln, Detroit, and Post Vincennes, of twenty- 
five or thirty years standing. These we had no knowledge of, and 
are not willing to pay. These claimants, after getting drunk, the 
most of them, and being joined by Coquillard and many other bad 
Frenchmen from St. Josephs, and the hostile Indians, rushed into 
the house. in part; and others began to tear it down, crying out, 
' We will take the money by force ;' and in this manner a general 
mob took place. We who were the true and proper owners of that 
money, were entirely disregarded, or abused and insulted ; and in this 
angry mode and insulting manner, they, with clubs, pistols, dirks, 
and guns in their hands, seized upon our money, and took it from 
us. They then took from our friend, Ewing, the sixteen boxes we 
had paid him : it was yet in the house. They then proceeded to our 
friend Taber's store, a short distance off, and demanded his money ; 
which was also given up or taken by the mob. They then went upon 
old Joseph Barron, and took from him his money. By this time the 
Agent, Col. Pepper, had succeeded in quieting the mob to a certain 
extent ; but they were very abusive, and so were the hostile Indians, 
towards us. By this time it was night. We heard from every side 
that we were all to be killed, and dreading such consequence, we 
went to Agent, and reminded him of his promise that he would pro. 
tect us, and that we expected him to do so ; that we had not done 
any thing wrong that we were aware of. 

He spoke like a man to us, and said that the Great Father never 
broke his word ; and that he would protect us, or he would die with 
us ; to be quiet and keep still, and leave the balance to him. This 
speech he made to us through our friend Ewing, and we knew it 
was true. He, Ewing, told us not to fear ; that the strong arm of the 
Great Father was near at hand, and that it should be over and 
protect them before the setting of another sun. He encoui'aged some 
of our Chiefs, and gave out pistols and knives to our young braves, 
and told them to defend themselves if they were attacked. This 
friend gave us much good advice, and was constantly with us. The 
night was spent in great suspense. We did not sleep, for we ex- 
pected to be attacked and all killed. The next day was a tedious 
and long one ; the St. Joseph Indians and Frenchmen held frequent 
councils all that day, and finally despatched two of their war Chiefs, 
Ashkum and Ship-she-naw-a-no, followed by about three hundred 
young Indians, to the council-house. Tiiey there got a large box 
and placed the two war chiefs on it, directly in front of the Agent's 
house, where he, Capt. Simington, and ourselves were ; who made 
these long and inflammatory speeches against us, and against our 
Great Father. They repeated in substance what Coquillard and 
Shadrina had said the day before on the house-top. They said the 
President of the U. S. was a rascal ; that he had lied to and cheated 
them ; that he had stolen their lands, and made chiefs out of boys 
and hog-thieves ; that we were not chiefs, and should all be killed. 
About this time good news came, and our friend Ewing informed uai 



44 

that the troops were at hand ; that a liundrcd young hraves were 
then on their march to the camp to protect us, and to see that the 
name of our Great Father was not insulted. He spoke true ; for 
they came, and they looked like warriors. They were all well 
armed; they marched into the camp; our bad Indians and bad 
white men gave way. One of the young braves planted the flag of 
our Great Father on the top of the house, and a secret message was 
sent by our friend to the bad Frenchmen and bad Indians to come 
now and tear down that house or that flag ; but they did not come. 
We then agr>^ed, in order to satisfy the white ])eople that we 
wanted to do what was right, that Col. Pepper and Capt. Siming- 
ton might select five more good white men, who should be entirely 
disinterested; and that they should be under our control, should help 
us pay out part of the money to our own people ; and that they 
should then pay out such sums on the difl^erent claims as we should 
order them to pay after having examined it. To do this, it was 
thought best to remove the money from the payment ground to 
Judge Polke's, about three miles distant. Accordingly five men were 
named by our Agent and Capt. Simington ; but they did not select 
good or honest men, nor disinterested men. They proved to be very 
bad men, as you will soon learn ; and they, too, joined in with those 
bad white people who had flilse claims against our people, and 
among them all we have been shamefully abused, wronged, and rob- 
bed of our annuity. Our just debts are not paid ; but a large^sum, 
amounting to near forty boxes, were lavished out by these five bad 
men ; in many cases given out on claims in which they were inte- 
rested, or had been bribed to get allowed. Our Agent, after having 
told these men that they were to pay out that money as we should 
direct, and presuming, as we suppose, that there would be no further 
trouble about it, left us, and went into Logansport ; which was very 
wrong in him. He had promised, and we think it was his duty to 
have remained there until we had finished our business. No sooner 
had he left, than these five men took full possession of our money. 
We were not permitted to go into the house, but were turned out ; 
and told that we had nothing to do with the money, that they were 
going to do as they pleased with it. And truly they did do so, and 
vye have good reason to believe that their own pockets were not a 
little benefited by the transaction. They never examined one claim, 
nor asked us whether we did or did not owe ; but disposed of that 
money of ours (they say) justly, nor will they give us a list of the 
names to whom they paid it. Our Father, is this not robbery ? and 
will you sufier us to be thus abused ? We owed honest debts, and 
were anxious to pay them ; but we wanted the privilege of settling 
those debts ourselves. We are told, and believe, that those men 
paid several large claims on the condition that for getting them 
allowed they should have the one half; and we are told this 
can be positively proven in several instances. Our Father ought 
to have remained and protected us from such vile imposition ; 
we think it was his duty to have remained there until our money was 
disposed of by us for and on behalf of our people, who were the pro- 
per owners of it ; but, as it is, we are injured ; our friends, whom we 



4& 

honestly owe, are not paid ; and they are thereby seriously injured 
and wronged ; and yet to them we must again look for aid and sup- 
port, for we have no money, and those who cheated us out of it, 
have gone we know not where. 

Our Father, we came in here from necessity, as before stated ; and 
yet the Agent has given us no provisions. We are supported here 
by our friends Joseph Barron, Ewing and Taber ; they are furnish, 
ing us beef and bread. We wanted to talk to our Father, the 
Agent, but he left this morning ; had not time to hear us we sup- 
pose. We have no more land to sell, it is true ; but we hope our 
Great Father will not refuse to listen to his red children because 
they have no more land to sell. We have sold it all to you, Father, 
because you said you wished us to do so ; and we are willing to 
listen to your wise counsels. 

Our Father, we want you to send a good man here to look into 
this business, to get back the money that the bad white people have 
stolen from us, and robbed us of. We don't want to pay debts that 
are not just, and we want to pay those that are just. We wanted 
Taber and Ewing paid first of all ; and we want you, our Great Fa. 
ther, now to see that they are paid. We feel ashamed and morti. 
fied because these men are not paid. It is the voice of the whole 
of the Wabash Potawatamies : we all owe them, and know their 
claims to be just, and we all unite in asking you to cause them to 
be paid out of the first money due us from you. There is one man, 
(N. D. Grover,) whom we paid all up last year ; he comes on with 
another large claim ; this we don't think is just, we think he has 
cheated and wronged us. Our people never got much from him ; 
we learn he has got a large amount of our money this year again. 
And E. V. Cicott ; this man we paid a large claim to last year, 
$2300. We did not justly owe it ; but we gave it to him. This 
year he has got $3000 more of our money for nothing ; we owed 
him nothing, at farthest not to exceed $500. These things are very 
wrong, and we want you to protect us from such impositions and 
frauds. We don't think we owed either of these men to exceed $500. 
Cicott was one of the five men selected to help us settle our business, 
(they were to be disinterested men.) Grover was one of the drunk- 
en mob-men, and has been paid for his rascality by getting $3000 
or $4000 of our money for nothing; we did not owe him but a very 
small amount, if any thing. 

Our Father, we have now told you the truth about our situation 
and as to the manner our money was taken from us ; and we ask you 
to hear and learn the truth, and to do us justice. Next and lastly 
as to ourselves : — You see our situation ; we are here without an 
agent or father, destitute of money, afraid to return with our fami- 
lies to our villages, for our lives are tlireatened, and bad Indians are 
waiting for us. We hear from them daily ; we are not afi-aid to die, 
nor do we want to shed the blood of our people. If we have done 
wrong, it has been in taking your advice and in listening to your 
counsels ; but we still think we have done right, and we want you, 
our Father, to send a good talk to this frontier. Tell these bad In- 
dians, and the bad white people too, that they must not do as they 



46 



have done, and that you will punish them for the damage they have 
done. Our Father, the cause of the great trouble was in part owing 
to the large sum of money you had sent us, which caused bad men, 
both red and white, to gather in from every quarter, and our Agent 
was without a guard or any way of defending himself; but the great 
difficulty was the fact of our having sold out the remaining re- 
serves upon which the Catholic Indians reside, and which they re- 
fused to sell, and had shut their ears against your councils. They 
have sworn to kill us for having signed the treaty, and we much 
fear they will carry out their wicked intentions unless awed from it 
by a strong talk from you. We hope our Great Father will not for- 
get us ; we expect his protection and friendship. 
Done at Logansport, Oct. 18, 1836. 

Witnesses present. 
Our Father, after our money was thus squandered and distributed, 
we went in and demanded from those five men, through our inter- 
preter, Joseph Barron, a receipt or copy of the list of names to whom 
they had paid our money, or to let us know what they had done with 
it. All of this they refused to give us, and replied that they had 
nothing to do with us. 

Our Father, what we have said is from our hearts. It is true, and 
we have no more to say. 

C Pash-po-ho, 

0-ka-maus, 

I-o-wa, 

M-jo-quis, 

We-we-sah, 

No-taw-kah, 
■{ Po-kah-gaus, 

Nas-wau-kay, 

Ke-waw-nay, 

Mat-chis-saw, 

Ne-bo-ash, 

Pe-pin-a-waw, 



Witnesses present, 

PETKR BARRON, 
ANTHONY BARRON, 
ANDREW GOSSLAN, 
ANDREW JACKSON, 
JOSEPH BARRON, 



. Po-posh, 



his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark, 
his X mark. 



COPY OF INDICTMENT FOR THE RIOT. 



State of Indiana, } 

Fulton County, ss. ^ 

Fulton Circuit Court, March Term, A. D. 1837. 

The Grand Jurors of the said state of Indiana, good and lawful 
men of said county of Fulton, empannelled, sworn and charged in the 
said Fulton Circuit Court, at the term thereof aforesaid, to inquire 
within and for the body of said county of Fulton, upon their oath pre- 
sent, that Alexis Coquillard, Nicholas D. Grover, Job B. Eldridge, 
Francis Comparet, John B. Shadrina, and Chauncey Carter, late of 
said county, on the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord 



47 

one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, with force and arms in 
the county aforesaid, did then and there unlawfully, riotously, and 
routously assemhle and gather together to disturb the peace of the 
said state ; and being so assembled and gathered together, did then 
and there unlawfully, riotously, and routously, and in a violent and 
tumultuous manner, make a great noise, riot, and disturbance ; and 
did then and there continue to remain making a noise, riot, and dis- 
turbance for the space of an hour and more then next following, to 
the great terror and disturbance of the good citizens of this state, 
to the evil example of all others in like case offending, contrary to 
the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against 
the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana. 

And the jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do further 
present, that the said Alexis Coquillard, Nicholas D. Grover, Job B. 
Eldridge, Francis Comparet, John B. Shadrina, and Chauncey Car- 
ter, on the day and year last aforesaid, with force and arms in the 
county aforesaid, did then and there unlawfully, riotously, and rout- 
ously, and in a violent and tumultuous manner, tear, pull, and force 
off the butting pole of a certain house belonging to the United States 
of America, then and there being, to the great disturbance and terror 
of the good citizens of this State then and there being, to the evil 
example of all persons in like cases offending, contrary to the form 
of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace 
and dignity of the State of Indiana. 

JOSEPH L. JERNEGAN, P. A. 



■ijr 



REPORT 



OF 



JOHN W. EDMONDS 



UNITED STATES' COMMISSIONER 

ON THE 

CLAIMS OF CREDITORS 

OF THE 

POTAWATAMIE INDIANS 



OF THE WABASH; 



PRESENTED UNDER THE TREATIES MADE WITH THEM 



In 1§36 and '37. 



NEW-YORK: 
1837. 



Nbw-York: 

Printed by Scatcherd & Adams, 

No. 38 Gold Street 



New-York, Dec. IQth, 1837. 

TO C. A. HARRIS, ESQ. 

Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 

Sir : 
I have executed my duties as Commissioner under the treaties 
with the Potawatamies of Indiana, made on the 5th of August, 
and 20th, 22d and 23d days of September, 1836, and 11th February, 
1837, and herewith transmit to you my report, and sundry docu- 
ments connected therewith. 

Among the papers you will receive a Register of the claims pre- 
sented, containing the amount claimed and allowed in the respec 
tive cases ; together with a particular report of my decision, and 
the reasons for it in each case ; a record of the testimony taken 
before me, and all the original papers and documents on which the 
claims were founded, or by which they were substantiated. 

The case of Messrs. Ewing, Walker and Co., (No. 26,) is an ex- 
ception to the latter remark, they having retained their original 
documents, and furnished me with copies. 

Several circumstances combined, (among which was the late 
period of my appointment,) to prevent the completion of my duties 
within the time specified in the treaties. I did not close the proofs 
in Indiana until late in June last, and was then obliged to hasten to 
the discharge of other duties ; and I found it quite impracticable to 
give to the examination of these claims the necessary attention 
while travelling to or from the Indian country, or indeed until my 
final return home. Since my return, it has required great diligence 
to complete my report as soon as this date. 1 could not consent 
to report until I had examined each case very particularly. A 
tareless or hasty decision might work serious injustice, and I was 
not wiUincx to decide until I could feel assured that any errors into 
which I n^ight fall, should not, with propriety, be charged upon any 
thing else than upon defects in the testimony adduced before me. 

I found that your regulation requiring the oath of the parties to 
the correctness of each claim, and the justness of the prices charg- 
ed was very beneficial to the Indians. Without that, the claim, 
ants, in many cases, would not have deemed it necessary to set out 
any thing more than their side of the matter, leaving to their 
debtors to show their payments ; a course which, however common 



or safe among white men, could not but operate injuriously to an 
illiterate Indian. 

I found two difficulties existing here, which, I suppose, must pre- 
vail more or less in all cases of Indian debts ; one arises from the 
ignorance of the debtor, and his inability to comprehend a running 
account ; and the other, from the ignorance of some of the creditors 
or their clerks, and their incapacity to read or write. Sometimes 
accounts are kept on the logs of their cabins, sometimes on sticks, 
and sometimes by a sort of hieroglyphic, satisfactory and intelligi- 
ble enough perhaps to the parties, but rather troublesome to inves- 
tigate. 

Several causes, however, had operated to remove much of the 
weight of the latter difficulty among the Potawatamies. 

When General Tipton was their agent, he had adopted the course, 
when the Indians wanted any goods, to give them an order for 
them, and at the payment of their annuities see that they were 
discharged. This measure, though not required of him by his 
duties, was extremely serviceable to the Indians, because it enabled 
him to protect them against imposition. It has been more or less 
continued since ; and while it lasted, those orders were considered, on 
all hands, as the best evidence of indebtedness. 

When, however, the Indians so far extended their debts as to 
make the amount exceed that of their annuities, the contests among 
the creditors rendered the performance of this task very harassing 
and troublesome to the agent, and subjected him to censure which 
he could not be expected voluntarily to incur. Colonel Pepper, 
therefore, in 1835, refused to have any thing to do with their debts ; 
but he caused the claimants and Indians to assemble together in 
council, and all the claims were then presented and adjusted, and a 
mode of liquidation agreed upon. 

A paper was drawn up under his direction, and signed by the 
Chiefs and the traders ; by which the former admitted that they 
owed the sums there set down, and the latter agreed that those sums 
were all that were owing to them, and that they would not after 
that date, viz. 23d August, 1835, present any claim for any debt 
contracted prior to that time, excepting only for goods delivered for 
treaty purposes, or on contracts for purchase of reservations. 

Col. Pepper was careful to preserve that paper (which in my 
reports is called the " Register of 1835"), and all the claims then 
presented. He delivered them to me, and I found them materially 
serviceable, not only aiding me to arrive at just conclusions as to 
the amount actually due in many cases, but also in enabling me to 
detect, and consequently to disallow several claims which were 
then discharged in full, but which had been presented again in 



5 

1836, and partial payments made upon them, and now again were 
presented to me for allowance. Those papers are herewith also 
transmitted to you. 

It will be seen in my report, that I consider that Register as 
binding and conclusive, both upon the Indians and the claimants 
who signed it, excepting only in cases where fraud or mistake in 
fact was clearly proved. This course was, in my opinion, agree- 
able to the well-settled law of the land. And the effect was on one 
side to cause several claims to be allowed which had no other evi- 
dence to support them ; and on the other, to cause many to be dis- 
allowed which otherwise must have passed. The balance was 
altogether in favor of the Indians. 

The gentlemen who distributed the money in 1836 also preserved 
and delivered to me most of the claims presented to them, and the 
receipts then given for the money which they paid. Those papers 
1 also transmit herewith. 

They show several instances in which persons obtained money in 
1836 to which they had no claim, and in direct violation of their 
full acquittances of the previous year. It is due to the Indians, and 
to the character of our government, that every practicable and law- 
ful effort should be made to procure the repayment of those sums. 

When Gen. Howard investigated the Indian claims under the 
treaty of Chicago, he gave most consideration to notes, which 
(being otherwise well proved) showed on their face their particular 
consideration — the items sold, the price of each, and the date of sale. 
This was much safer than to depend either upon charges on book 
or upon general notes not stating the consideration. It was a very 
great protection against imposition, and much facilitated the pro- 
gress of an officer in arriving at the truth. In consequence of his 
course on that occasion, the practice was generally adopted in that 
vicinage, and I have had frequent occasion to witness its beneficial 
operation. 

It was not practicable, however, in all cases, for the claimant to 
furnish the items of his account. When kept in the manner to 
which I have already alluded (in hieroglyphics or on the walls of a 
cabin) and frequently in cases where the original notes were de- 
stroyed upon the execution of a larger one (comprehending many), 
they could not be furnished. That circumstance, while it required 
from me a closer scrutiny, did not justify me in the total rejection 
of a claim on that account alone. I accordingly allowed several 
cases of that character, where the evidence of a subsisting in- 
debtedness was otherwise satisfactory. It will be seen, however, 
that the amount was necessarily estimated. In such cases, and 
indeed in several, where original but imperfect entries were produced, 



it was impossible for me to arrive at certainty. I was obliged to 
estimate, with the full conviction on my own mind all the time, 
that the liability to err was altogether too great. 

I also experienced difficulty from the absence of the power to 
compel the attendance of witnesses. In some cases they refused 
to attend, and I was obliged either to disallow the claim altogether, 
or allow it upon very imperfect testimony. The latter course seem- 
ed most just. I adopted it reluctantly, because, here too I felt 
that it was not possible for me to be sure that my decision was 
correct. 

I was instructed by you to keep in view the fact that the respec- 
tive bands are entitled to separate sums of money, and to specify 
to which band the indebted Indian may belong, and out of which 
fund the sum allowed is to be paid. I found it utterly impractic- 
ablo to do this, because neither the Indians nor the traders had 
kept their matters separate, and of course could not enable me to 
separate them. Frequently a band would go to a store and trade, 
and the charge would be made to one of them — generally the most 

conspicuous " and others ;" but who those others were, no one 

could afterwards say. As frequently small notes against indivi- 
dual Indians would be given up, and a note therefor be signed by 
the Chiefs of the nation, not one of whom, perhaps, were parties to 
the original note. Again, one or several Indians would buy a 
quantity, and distribute it among others of different bands, and no 
one be able to tell who really got the goods. I was therefore com- 
pelled, after fruitless efforts, to abandon the attempt. 

I will confess that I did not much regret this result, and for two 
reasons. — In the first place, the price of some of the reservations 
sold to the United States was paid in 1836, and the amount, 
thou<Th belonging to particular bands, was put into the general 
stock, and by general consent was either distributed to all the 
Indians as their annuity, or was appropriated to the payment of 
the debts of all. And it seemed to me to be unfair to allow those 
who had last year received the benefit of money to which they had 
no riifht, new to keep their own money to themselves, and exclude 
others from any participation with them. 

The other reason was, that the debts chargeable against any one 
of the bands who sold, were more than enough to absorb the 
amount payable to it. No injustice could therefore be done. 

With these unavoidable exceptions, I complied with your in- 
structions. 

It will be seen, by the papers which I submit, that in 1835 the 
debts of these Indians were liquidated at $62,431 75, that they then 
paid $27,022 50, leaving themselves $35,409 25 in debt. That 



in 1836 claims amounting to about $120,000 were presented, and 
$41,150 paid upon them ; and that in 1837 the claims presented 
amounted to $169,446 64. And those allowed to $22,761 04 more 
than the money payable to them. This balance, and several depre- 
dation claims, ought to be paid out of their annuity. 

It is evident from all this, that these Indians are fast sinking 
to the most abject poverty, and when to this is added the habits of 
intoxication which are produced by their vicinity to the white 
people, we must be aware that their entire destruction is close at 
hand. Their preservation from this melancholy fate can be effect- 
ed only by prompt and efficient measures. They must be removed 
beyond the Mississippi, out of the reach of the white man, where 
no temptations can be thrown in their way, to be otherwise than 
sober, industrious, and careful. " The graves of their fathers," 
to which, it is said, they are so much attached, will soon be their 
own unless they seek a new country. You will see, by the report 
of the last council which I held with them, that I endeavored to 
impress these truths upon them, and to induce them to embrace the 
humane policy of our government. I was the more earnest in this, 
because I could not discover any other means of preserving them. 
To remain among the white people must be certain destruction to 
them. 

But whether they remove or remain, some regulation ought to be 
adopted by which they should have the benefit of a " statute of re- 
pose" as to their debts. Some frequent period ought to be fixed, at 
which they shall understand that they are discharged from their 
debts, and not have claims hanging over them year after year, and 
constantly multiplying, until they feel as one of the Chiefs express- 
ed it to me, " these things make us blind ; we cannot see ; do you 
see for us." 

A regulation of that character — to take effect hereafter, of course 
— rendering it impossible to collect of an Indian a debt of more 
than a year's standing, would save them from a load of imposition, 
and while it could not injure the trader, would add very much to 
the quiet and happiness of the Indian. 

I am, Sir, 

With great respect. 

Your obedient Serv't, 

J. W. EDMONDS, 
U. S. Com'r, &c. 



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li E X O XV T . 



REPORTS. 



No. 1. 

JOHN BREWYETT, 875,00 

This claim is for one half the price of a horse claimed to have 
been sold to a Potawatamie. But there was no evidence produced 
to support it, and therefore it is 

Disallowed. 



N>. 2. 

LUTHER RICE, 8120,00 

This is a claim for a horse sold to IVIgs-ne-go-qua in 1833. She 
admits she bouglit the horse for 8120, and owes it all except 8 10, 
which she had paid. 

Allowed at 8110,00. 



No. 3. 
JOHN BACCUS, 82323,65 

Claimant is a black man, and keeps a hake-shop and grocery at 
Logansport. Indians, both Minmis and Potawatamies, have been 
in the habit of dealing with him ; principally for bread, pies, and 
cakes. He is uneducated, and is unable to keep accurate books of 
account. He has the reputation of being an honest, fair man, but 
is unable to tell how much the Potawatamies do owe him. The 
claim which he presents was made out by an Irish laboi-er, and is 
full of mistakes. 

Joseph Barron, the Government interpreter, was in the habit of 
giving the Indians orders upon Baccus for bread. And these orders 
are charged in the claim thus, 

« Orders as p. file from No. 1 to No. 106" 8418,261 

The orders are produced and examined, and are only for 
1758 lbs. of bread, and 60 lbs. bacon, amounting only to 
$112,23. 112,23 

Justifying a deduction of 8306,03 



18 



This deduction is further sustained by an examination of the 
books produced ; from which it appears that some of the orders are 
entered twice, some itre entered falsely as to amounis, and that $175 
is cliarjred lo the Indians for provisions furnished to Captain 
Simonton for his support during the payment of annuities in 1836. 

There must be a further deduction for No. 107, $8,40, which is 
included in the above sum of $112,23. 

The following will show the state of these accounts as they 
appear from the books. 

1. Kewana's account is charged at 299,64 

There is an error in addition in one place, 4,75 
In another, 6,87 

And there is nothing to support 94,84 106,46 



The amount is sustained by the books only for 
2. Wewissah's account is charged at $109,25 



There is nothing to support 



$193,18 



27,50 



Sustained only for 
3. Nas-wau-ka's account is charged at 192,90 

Unsupported, 7,12 



Sustained for 

4. Pash-po's is charged at 

Unsupported, 

Sustained for 

5. Richards is charged at 

Unsupported, 

Sustained for 

6. Sporta's is charged at 

Unsupported, 

Sustained for 

7. Bennac's is charged at 

Unsupported, 

Sustained for 

8. Ash-kum's is charged at 

Unsupported, 

Sustained for 

9. Nee-booh's is charged at 

Unsupported, 



206,82 
61,85 



18,71 
4.90 



117,75 
1H,25 



143,17 

, 29,42 



144,17 
20,50 



206,65 
1,00 



81,75 



185,78 



144,97 



13,81 



99,50 



113,75 



123,67 



Sustained for 



205,65 



19 

10. lowah's is charged at 191,37 
Unsupported, 11,25 

Sustained for 180,27 

11. Aubonobby's is charged at 125,43 
Unsupported, 13,06 

Sustained for 112,37 

12. Blind Chief's is charged at 




Unsupported, 

Sustained for 44,08 

13. Joseph Barron's is charged at 426,86 

Unsupported, 314,43 

Sustained for 112,43 

14. Potawatamies not known, charged at 315,01 

Unsupported, 22,17 

292,84 

15. Wee.saw's sustained as charged at 68,85 

$1972,75 
Deducting the amount paid him in 1836 350,00 

And there would seem to be due him, $1622,75 

as his books would make it out. 

There are, however, several considerations to impeach the cor- 
reclness of the claim for this amount. 

In the first place, his books are so badly kept as to afford no 
certain evidence of the correctness of any of his accounts. He 
presents original entries kept by himself, after his own fashion, and 
written in by many different persons, as they might chance to 
enter his shop and he willing to make entries for him. His ama- 
nuensis attempted to copy them into a ledger, and when he could 
not make out to read John's hieroglyphics, he would guess at it ; and 
at the end of almost every account draw upon his imagination for 
sundry charges which had no other foundation. His ledger did 
not aaree with his original entries, nor did tlie account filed with 
me agree with the ledger. 

A<rain ; John's charges would not sometimes be made until some 
days"liad elapsed, and then he would trust to his memory ; and he 
dealt almost as much with the Miamis as he did with the Potawata- 
mies, and he could not always discriminate. These two causes 
would produce errors, the extent of which is well exemplified in the 
case of Barron's orders, where the charge of $426,86 was, on 
examination, reduced to $112,43. And I have no doubt that the 
same causes ought to produce a similar deduction in the charge of 
$315,00 against Potawatamies not known. 

In Sept. 1836, John presented his claim against the Potawata- 
mies at $1115,78, and then received $350 on it, leaving due to him 



20 

$765,78. If the result, as produced by his books, as above men- 
tioned, is correct, then he must have trusted to these Indians in the 
space of eight months, in bread and craci\ers, $1206,97: an 
amount beyond his means, and far beyond his practice of all former 
years. 

But his claim shows that his charges after Sept. 1836, amount 
only to $971,13. 

There is yet another difficulty. In August, 1835, claimant settled 
off with these Indians, and was to receive the balance of his account, 
$150, at the payment in 1836. In Sept. 1636, he did receive that 
sum, as well as tlie $350 ; but whether the $150 formed a part of the 
claim for $1115,78 then put in, I could not ascertain, nor could he 
or liis clerk explain any of these difficulties. 

From the uncertainty and confusion attending the whole case, I 
could arrive at only one conclusion with certainty, and that was, 
that the claim was not correct as presented. 

I shall be best satisfied with the following result : 

Take the amount as appears from the books, $1662,75 

Deduct from it the payment in 1836, $150,00 

And on account of charges against Potawata- 
mies unknown, a sum which will put this charge 
on a footing with Barron's orders ; to wit, 232,00 382,00 



And allow $1280,75 



No. 4 & 5. 
WILLIAM SILL & CO., $60,75 

Do. Do. 47,05 

These claims are for goods and provisions sold to these Indians. 
The accuracy of the accounts, and the delivery of most of the goods 
charged, having been proved by a clerk, who testifies also that the 
claim was truly copied from the original entries which were then 
destroyed ; the claims are 

Allowed at $107,80 



No. 6. 

HARRISON BARNET, $382,62 

In this case no items are given, nor any books produced, nor 
is their absence in any manner accounted for. The only evidence 
to support the claim is, the admission of Iowa that he owes about 
$2ii, the testimony of Col. Ewing that claimant sold some things 
to the Indians, and the evidence of Miller swearing to the accuracy 
of the claim for $180. The notes are not produced, nor have I 
any evidence before me what they were given for. 



21 

Under these circumstances, I do not feel myself justified in al- 
lowing any more than the $180. 

Allowance $180 



No. 7. 

FORD, WALKER & Co., $69,44 

This claim is for merchandise. It is proved by the clerk of 
claimants, who delivered the goods, and produces the books of 
original entries. From an examination of the books, errors and 
payments on account are discovered amounting to $11,37, which 
must be deducted. 

This claim is therefore allowed at $58,07 



No. 8. 
RYFENBURGH & BREARLY, $100,00 

Claimants amputated the arm of an Indian, and visited him twice 
after amputation. For the amputation they charge $50, and for 
each visit $25, The former is not an extravagant charge, but the 
latter is. According to the custom of the country they would be 
entitled to 50 cents a mile, or $3 for each visit. 

They are therefore allowed $56,00 



No. 9. 
EWING, WALKER & Co., $754,21 

In December, 1834, Gen. Wm. Marshall, then Indian agent for 
the Potavvatamies, made nine several treaties with ditferent bands 
of that nation for the cession of their reservations in Indiana, 
copies of which treaties, numbered from 1 to 9 inclusive, are hereto 
annexed. Each of them contained a stipulation that a portion o;' 
the consideration money should be paid in goods at the signing o;" 
the treaty, without reference to its ratification. The goods were 
delivered in pursuance of those stipulations, and the treaties were 
all rejected by the Senate. The goods were not bought by the 
agent, for the government or with its funds ; but he gave orders to 
certain of the traders to deliver goods to the amount stipulated. 
Inspectors were appointed to see that proper articles, and at fair 
prices, were delivered by the traders. And the traders, not having 
received their pay for the goods thus delivered, now present a 
claim ibr them, as a debt against the Indians. 

The Indians say they ought not to pay for them, for they did 
not buy them, but they received them as a gift from government. 

It was certainly not their fault that the treaties were not ratified, 



22 

but it is equally certain that they made their treaties subject to 
ratification, that they received the goods in part pay for their lands, 
which they did not, however, convey to government ; and therefore, 
they have had and enjoyed the benefit of the goods without paying 
any compensation for them. 

The claim of the traders for compensation is well founded, 
and they ought to be paid either by government or the Indians ; and 
as the latter alone have received any benefit from the goods, they 
ought to pay, particularly as government otherwise pays them for 
these same lands. 

These remarks apply to all the cases of goods delivered " for 
treaty purposes," and are now made once for all as conti-oliing all 
claims of that character. 

In the particular case under consideration, the goods, were 
delivered under treaty No. 1, which stipulated for the payment of 
$400 in goods ; and the claim is supported by the certificates of the 
Inspectors and the agent, and by the testimony of one of th^ 
Inspectors. 

It is therefore allowed at the face of the bill, viz. $667,50 

There is a claim for interest, from the adjournment of Congress 
in March, 1835, until paid, which is disallowed. 



No. 10. 

EVVING, WALKER & CO., $767,99 

This claim is for goods delivered for " treaty purpo.^es," under 
treaty made 4tli Dec, 1834, with Wm. Marshall, and ratified. 
See page 616 of treaty book. 

Allowed at $676,68 

The balance, being for interest, is disallowed. 



No. 11. 
EWING, WALKER & CO., $1000 

This is a claim for goods delivered for " treaty purposes." I 
have not, however, been able to find the treaty. 

It appears that goods to the amount of $i.'-!8 only were delivered 
at the time of making the treaty. The delivery of the balance at 
subsequent periods is proved by the books, and clerks of the claim- 
ants. 

It is allowed at $1000,00 



No. 12. 
EWING, WALKER & CO., $2065,00 

This claim is for goods delivered for " treaty purposes," under 



23 

treaty No. 7, by which $2000 in goods was payable. Goods to the 
amount of 8500, were delivered at the execution of the treaty in 
Dec. 1834, and the balance was not delivered until August 1836, 
after the last treaty with that band had been signed. $5U0 only is 
therefore properly to be considered for " treaty purposes," the re- 
sidue having been delivered after treaty No. 7 had been rejected. 
That residue, however, is a proper claim against the Indians as a 
a debt, because it is well proved that the goods were delivered to 
them. 

It is allowed at $2000 

There is a claim for interest, which is disallowed. 



No. 13. 
EWING, WALKER & Co., $565 

This is for goods delivered for " treaty purposes," under treaty 
No. 1. 

That treaty provided for the payment of only $400 in goods. 
Yet it appears, from the vouchers in claim No. 9 and in this case, 
that the agent authorized a delivery of goods to the amount of 
$1167,50. 

The delivery of the whole is made out in proof, and this claim is 
a just one against the Indians. 

It is therefore allowed at $500 

There is also a claim for interest, which is disallowed. 



No. 14. 
EWING, WALKER & Co., $565,00 

This claim is for goods delivered for " treaty purposes," under 
treaty No. 7. 

But it appears by the vouchers, in claim No. 12, that the whole 
amount of goods stipulated by that treaty had already been deliver- 
ed. This is not, tlierefore, properly a claim for " treaty purposes." 

It is proper to remark, that there is great confusion in these 
claims for " treaty purposes," and great difficulty in attaching the 
goods to the proper treaty. This has arisen from the carelessness 
of the agent in giving his orders. That does not, however, impair 
the justness of the claims of the traders. 

Wherever, as in this case, they have delivered their goods to the 
Indians, they ought to be paid for them. 

This claim is allowed at $500 

There is also a claim for interest, which is disallowed. 



No. 15. 
JAMES T. MILLER, 502,50 

This bill is for horses, saddles, bridles, and martingales, delivered 



21 

to the Yellow River Band of Indians in August, 1836. The de- 
livery of the articles and the fairness of the prices being sufficiently 
proved, the claim is 

Allowed at $502,50 



No. 16. 
JEAN B. JUTROIS, $3500,00 

No. 86. 
JEAN B. JUTROIS, 4780,00 



Total, $5280,00 

These two claims are so necessarily connected, that they ought to 
be considered together. 

Claimant is part Indian, and has a squaw wife, and cannot write, 
except merely to sign his name. He has lived as an Indian, and 
among them ; and whenever he could get goods or provisions, he has 
dealt with them. He kept no accounts, because he said "it was no 
use," except that he would occasionally make hieroglyphics, which 
he and the Indians could understand. Of course it is impossible 
to arrive at any thing like certainty as to the amount justly due h m. 

As to No. 16. In support of this, he presents a note signed by 
the Chiefs of the Yellow River Band, dated on the day they ceded 
their lands, and executed in presence of Colonel Pepper. The Co- 
lonel says that the Chiefs wanted to make a reservation for Jutrois 
in the treaty ; but failing in that, they gave him this note ; whether 
for debt, or in lieu of reservations, the Colonel did not know. The 
mere note, executed under such circumstances, is not sufficient to 
justify an allowance. It is then proved that tor the last nine years Ju- 
trois had been living and trading with this band and other Indians; 
that he has purchased goods, varying from $1,000 to $2,000 a year ; 
and he has been frequently seen to give out goods, &c. to them, with- 
out receiving pay or making any charge ; that he used more bacon 
and flour at his house than the White Man's tavern in the neigh- 
borhood did ; and that $1,0U0 a year would not cover what he gave 
away to the Indians ; and he lost more money by keeping and feed- 
ing them, than by trusting goods to them. 

These statements refer back to 1828, but he signed the Register 
of 1835 ; and, in consideration of $600 then paid him, he released 
the Indians from all claims, up to August, 1835 ; and the question 
is, what debts were contracted after that date ? 

1st. He shows purchases made by himself of goods for the trade, 
between October, 1835, and April, 1837, amounting to $5575,82. 

2d. That many of the Indians about there owe him money for 
these goods. 

3d. That during the last three months of 1835, he had a person 
living with him who kept his accounts; and he shows accounts and 
notes, thus kept, amounting, for goods sold in October, November, 
and December of that year, to $957,54. 



25 

4th. That the Chiefs of the Yellow River Band admit their in- 
debtedness to this amount. 

5th. He exhibits his hieroglyphics, showing an indebtedness. 

As to No. 86. This is supported by three notes of hand. One 
dated September 7, 1836, for $2000 to him, and $1600 to J. Bar- 
ron, which is spoken of in the report on No. 17. One dated May 
16, 1837, for $2000, and one for $1280, without date or witnesses. 

The general evidence of trade and invoices, mentioned above, is 
in support of this as well as the other claim. But there are various 
circumstances to impeach these notes. 

As to that dated September 7, the Chiefs Iowa, Neswauka, Ke- 
wawna, M-jo-quis, and No-taw-ka, deny positively ever having signed 
it. The latter person would seem to have signed it twice, for he is 
known both as No-taw-ka and VVi-ah-koos-say ; and both those names 
are sip-ned to it. It is witnessed by two of Barron's sons, whose 
testimony in regard to it, before me, was so inconsistent in its dif- 
ferent parts, and so much at war with the facts as proved by the 
paper itself, that it is not entitled to credit. See pages 145, 156, 
and 157 of the Book of Testimony. 

The note of May 16, 1837, was understood by the Indians who 
signed it to be in full of all his claims. 

The note of $1280 is for two sections of land, which the Indians 
promised to give him, and did not. It purports to have the mark of 
five Indians to it. 0-ca-chee, one of them, denies that she signed it ; 
so does Abram Burnet, who can read and write, but whose mark is 
put to it with his Indian name, Ah-no-way-she-na. Jutrois, in his 
affidavit, says that it was upon this note of $1280 that he received 
$500 in 1836 ; but, upon an examination of the papers presented 
last year, it appears that the only claim he put in, was the note of 
$2000 to himself and Barron. 

An indebtedness of these Indians to Jutrois is, I think, satisfacto- 
rily made out ; and an inference might be drawn, from the invoices 
of his purchases, that it was not far from $5000 ; but we are to bear 
in mind that he got all the furs of the band at a time when the hunts 
are described to have been pretty good ; that he had it in his power, 
and doubtless availed himself of the opportunity, to collect from the 
Indians some money on his credits, of which no account is given ; 
that he lost as much by giving away to the Indians as by selling to 
them, and that he received last year $500. 

I cannot arrive at any certainty in the case as to the actual 
amount of indebtedness. I am obliged to estimate it. 

I therefore allow on both claims $2500. 



No. 17. 

JOSEPH BARRON, $6000 

The magnitude of this claim, and its character, require a special 
notice. 
The claimant is the government interpreter, and is married to the 

D 



26 

daughter of one of the Chiefs. His claim is presented in the shape of 
a note for the above amount, signed by 12 of the chiefs and head 
men of the Potawatamies of the Wabash. It is not supported by 
any books of account or items, but was signed in the presence of the 
the Indian agent, and the disbursing officer, and several other gentle- 
men of respectable character. His affidavit appended to the note 
shows the nature of the claim, and that he rests very much upon 
the fact that the Indians admitted the indebtedness in the presence 
and by the sanction of the Indian agent. But Col. Pepper denies 
that he intended to give his official sanction to any debt whatever ; 
and he says that the Indians told him that " Barron had lived 
among them a long time, and had shared among them all his things, 
and they wanted to pay him." They desired a stipulation to that 
efiect inserted in the treaty, but, upon his declining do so, they 
signed this note, and he witnessed it, without knowing any thing 
more about its consideration. 

Barron is, and has been, poor, and unable to obtain goods other- 
wise than on the credit of the Indians. That he has obtained a 
large amount of goods in this way, is proved in several cases. 

The Indians are not in the habit of inquiring, nor do they gene- 
rally know whose goods they receive. They know only the man 
who gives them out to them. Instances have been known, (though, 
it is to be hoped, of rare occurrence,) in which persons have gone into 
the Indian country as clerks, and trusted out to the Indians valuable 
outfits for their employers for two or three years in succession, and 
have then abandoned their posts as clerks, and commenced trade 
on their own account, and without difficulty collected for their own 
benefit the " credits," as they are called, which they had made for 
their employers. This is rendered feasible by the fact, that the In- 
dians know only the clerks in their dealings. 

An instance of this kind appears in Barron's case. 

In order to support his claim, he proved by Harvy Heath, his son- 
in-law, that in the winter of 1836, 7, (subsequent to the date of the 
note in question,) he carried to the Indian country two loads of 
provisions. In case No. 26, it was proved that those provisions 
were furnished by Ewing, Walker & Co., and sent out by Bar- 
ron, and the Indians knew only Barron in the transaction. Se- 
veral other cases of the same character are disclosed in the investi- 
gation of different claims. 

Barron was in the frequent habit of going to the traders at Lo- 
gansport, and procuring goods on the credit of the Indians. Some- 
times there would be Indians with him, and sometimes he would be 
alone. Sometimes the articles would be such as were evidently 
for his ov/n private use ; and again, such as were for the use of the 
Indians. 

It was also common for Barron to relieve himself from personal 
liability by procuring his father-in-law, and other Chiefs, to sign ob- 
ligations for the debts which he had thus contracted. Instances of 
that kind will be found in several of these reports. 

Barron was frequently applied to by traders and others to pro- 
cure the signatures of the Chiefs to different papers. The custom 



27 

of the Chiefs to congregate at, and around his house, and the free 
manner in which he associated and shared with them, gave him 
facilities for doing any business with them, and an influence over a 
portion of them surpassing that of any other white man. Tliere 
is reason to beUeve that that influence was not always exerted in 
the best manner. Evidence of this will be found in the investiga- 
tion of the disturbance in 1836, and in case No. 16, where Jutrois 
applied to Barron to procure signatures to a note for $2000 to 
Jutrois ; Barron did so, but he took the precaution to add to it a 
promise to pay him $1600. So that I have before me two notes in 
favor of Barron, one for $1600 dated Sept. 7, 1836, and one for 
$6000 dated the 23d Sept. 1836, and a claim for a balance of $2625 
on the Register of 1835 — making a total of $10,225, claimed as be. 
ing due from these Indians, to a man who was too poor to purchase 
goods with cash, and of too low credit, as described by the wit- 
nesses, to buy otherwise than on the credit of the Indians. 

He accounts for this in his affidavit, appended to the $6000 note. 
In that he says, that though not dissipated, he is improvident ; that 
he has been poor the most part of his life, and was compelled, from 
his situation, to share with his Indian friends the most that he had 
or his credit could command ; and that his kind Indian friends were 
unwilling to neglect or pass him by, but wished to give some evi- 
dence of their justice and gratitude, and for that the note was 
executed. This explanation makes the note a gift rather than a 
just debt. 

Besides all this, he has been in the habit of receiving liberally 
from these Indians payments or presents of money. In 1835 he 
had an allowance made to him of $5125 as a debt tlien due, and he 
received on it, at that time, $2500. In 1836, $6000 was set apart 
for him by Messrs. Ewing & Taber; but he took $9000 in the first 
instance, but he restored $1000 and retained only $8000. All of 
that was taken away from him in the disturbance, and he finally 
received $2500 of the five Commissioners. 

The Chiefs complained to me that they had, in 1836, put into his 
hands $2000 of their money, and they had been unable to get it 
from him. He was called upon to account for this, and he did so 
by producing two receipts signed by some of the Chiefs, one dated 
October 5, 1836, for $780, and another one of the same date for 
$250 ; both expressing that the Chiefs had received that money of 
Barron to pay their own debts. It is remarkable, that both these 
papers are assigned by Barron to his creditors as valid obligations 
against the Indians. 

Besides all this, the Commissioners say, that at their payment to 
the Indians on the 28th September, 1836, Barron was present, and 
as individual Indians were paid off", he collected of them several 
sums of money which he said they owed him. 

To put the case beyond all doubt, I consulted the Chiefs in open 
council. They denied owing Barron any thing, and his authority 
to procure goods on their account. 

Considering, as I do, the settlement of August 1835, as final and 
conclusive, it will be proper to remark, that on that occasion he 
was allowed a debt amounting to $5125,00 



28 

He received in 1835 $2500 

in 1836 2500 

He obtained from the Chiefs 

in 1836 $2000 

and he paid back only 1030 970 5970,00 

Thus he appears to have received $845,00 more than was due 
to him. 

The note of $6000 became due on the 1st of May, 1837, and on 
the 8th Nov. 1836, (before it was due) he seems to have assigned 
it, " for value received." To remove any doubt, however, whether 
the note might not, in a legal point of view, be good in the hands 
of an innocent holder, he produced to me papers showing that it 
had been assigned for collection only, and not for a valuable con. 
sideration paid at the time. 

The claim must be disallowed. 



No. 18. 
EWING, WALKER & CO., $255,75 

This is a claim for goods delivered " for treaty purposes," under 
General Marshall's treaty No. 2, and is well established by the 
proof. 

It is allowed at $255,75 

There is a claim for interest, disallowed. 



No. 19. 
JOHN B. JUTROIS, $1000,00 

This claim is for a bill of goods delivered to the Yellow River 
Band of Indians, on the 25th of August, 1836. 

The delivery of the goods, and the execution of the note for them, 
are proved, and the claim is 

Allowed at $1006,00 



No. 20. 
EWING, WALKER & CO., $3000,00 

This is a claim for goods, at fair prices, delivered to the Yellow 
River Band about twenty days after the making of the treaty of 
August, 1836. 

The bill is proved by the oath of one of those who saw the goods 
delivered, the certificate executed and the note signed by the In- 
dians. 

The proof is complete, and the claim is 

Allowed at $3000,00 



29 

No. 21. 
ENOCH D. WOODBRIDGE, $250,00 

This is a claim for depredations committed by some Indians in 
killing the claimant's hogs in 1832. Independent of all other consi- 
derations, it being proven in this case that the offenders do not 
belong among those who have made these treaties, the claim must 
of course be 

Disallowed. 



No. 22. 
HARRIS & M'CORD, $602,52 

This claim was first entered for $601,30, withdrawn and re-en- 
tered for $602,52. It was proved by the clerk of claimants and 
the production of the original entries ; but upon examination of the 
account, it appears that only $143,50 was properly chargeable to 
these Indians, the residue being against the Potawatamies of the 
Chicago agency. 

Therefore, allow $143,50 

Disallow 459,02 



No. 23. 

JOSEPH SCOTT & Co., $514,25 

This claim is supported by the production of the original entries, 
by the affidavit of their clerk and the testimony of a witness that 
claimants were in the habit of selling goods to these Indians on 
credit, and charging them on their books. 

On examining the books (Sec, errors in Addition and carrying 
out are found, amounting to $9,04 and one item of $14 is unsup- 
ported by evidence. 

The claim is for $514,25 

Deduct for errors, 9,04 

For want of evidence, 14,00 



23,04 



Allowed, $491,21 



No. 24. 

SPENCER & GANSON, $30,50 

This claim is proved by witnesses, and admitted by the Indians. 
It is therefore allowed at $30,50 



No. 25. 
N. D. GROVER, $3025,50 

This is a claim for a balance on accounts and notes running 



30 

back as far as 1832 and 3. The whole matter will be very much 
simplified, by recurring to the fact that claimant signed the Regis- 
ter of 1835, at which time be was allowed 81802 in full of all 
claims up to that date ; he received then $668, and was to receive 
the balance in 1836 and 1837. I therefore throw out of view 
every item bearing a date prior to 23d August, 1835, and state the 
account thus, 

Bal. due in 1835, $1134,00 

Burnet's note, 15 June, 1837, 16,00 
Notes of Kewana, Neswauka, Passis, and others, ^ 

Nos. 1 to 17 inclusive, amounting — after deducting > 187,50 
3 claims not proved — to j 

Receipts for provisions, Nos. 1 to 9 inclusive, 196,37 

Sundry notes, Nos. 1 to 13, 194,30 

Notes, accounts, and certified claims, Nos. from 1 to 9, 65,00 

Wi-wiss-ah, and others' small accounts, 16,50 

Provisions delivered to sundry parties by J. Barron } ao'r t-x 
m 1836, ^ 

Provisions delivered by Barron in 1835, and after > 154 00 

23d August in that year, ) ' 

Two claims of J. Barnet and J. Douglass for culti- " 

vating fields, proved by the witness to have been pre- . 210,00 

sented in 1835, but omitted from the allowances by ' 

mistake, J $2601,40 

Deduct cash rec'd of Ewing and Taber, 1836, $567,00 
Do. of the 5 Commissioners, 2000,00 



3567,00 



Bal. due, $34,40 

This is a result to which I am compelled, if I give full force to 
the Register of 1835, for it contains a covenant that " the accounts 
so allowed embrace every charge against the Potawatamies, and 
that the traders will not thereafter present any accounts previous 
to that date," except goods for treaty purposes and contracts for 
reservations. But upon examining the signature of this claimant 
to the Register, it appears that the following words were added to 
it. "Agents' orders for 1834 and '35 not included in claim." 
Upon referring to the claim presented in 1835, it appears evident 
that the orders now presented were not included in that settlement. 
But it also appears that those words, thus written after the signa- 
ture, have been erased ; by whom done, is not proved. There is no 
proof that the erasure was by the knowledge or consent of the 
claimant, nor is it probable that he erased it, because he had a 
large claim on account of those orders. Of that he was not igno- 
rant at the time, for he then had in his possession, and exhibited 
a statement of his claim including those orders, made on the 25th 
May, 1835, certified by Gen. Marshall as Indian agent, amounting 
to $3544,37 ; and on the 25th December, 1835, he obtained from 
the Chiefs a letter to the Secretary of War, requesting him to order 
the balance paid to him. This the Secretary declined doing. 



31 

These " agent's orders" were orders given on Grover by Gen. 
Marshall when agent, and Grover's doubt seems to have been, whe- 
ther on that account they ought not to be paid by government. 

The attempt to obtain payment in that mode having failed, he 
now presents it against the Indians, and it is doubtless a proper 
claim against them, so far as they are substantiated. 

They are substantiated as follows : 

Orders of Gen. Marshall from Sept. 1834 to April, 

1836, $1852,70 

Do. of Col. Pepper, and orders in 1835, 192,37 

$1955,07 
All the residue of claim prior to 23d August, 1835, is necessarily 
excluded. 

The allowance is as follows : 

Orders as above, $1955 07 

Balance as above stated, 34 40 



Total allowed, $1889,47 



No. 26. 
EWING, WALKER & Co., $27428,14 

This claim being the largest presented to me, I have devoted to 
its examination more time and attention than to any other case, and 
have applied to it the rules which I adopted for the government of 
my action with the utmost rigor. Their books seem to have been 
very well kept, and all their vouchers have a greater appearance of 
regularity than any I have ever found among Indian claims. 

Claimants have been very extensive dealers with the Indians, and 
they have taken unusual precautions to prepare and preserve the 
vouchers in support of their claim. I examined all their original 
entries with great care, and had their Clerks sitting by me, giving 
testimony, under oath, as I proceeded ; and in all cases I required 
proof of the delivery of the property, notwithstanding they exhibited 
notes or other evidences of debt, signed by the Indians ; and, as a 
further precaution, I inquired into their purchases of goods tor their 
several stores, and examined their invoices. In fine, I subjected the 
whole claim to a most rigid and laborious scrutiny ; and the follow- 
ing is the result : 

I take up the case according to its numbers on their abstract. 

No. 1.— Ashkum and band, charged with. 
Deduct for liquor. 

No. 2. — M-jo-quis, charged with. 
Add for error, 



Amount carried forward, $513 25 



$422 25 




2 00 






$420 25 


. 112 00 


1 00 






113 00 





32 

Brought forward, S513 25 

No. 3. — I-o-wa and party, charged with, 1,230 34 
Deduct for items charged in 

other accounts or not found 

on book, - - - $93 25 
Do. for items before August 

24, 1835, - - 16 75 



I 



110 00 



1,120 34 

No. 4. — Pash-po-ho, charged with and proved at, - 28 25 

No. 5.— Chit-chok-kose, do do - 154 75 

No. 6.— 0-ke-chee, charged with $302,88. The goods 
for which this claim is interposed were deli- 
vered to 0-ke-chee, in payment of land bought 
by claimants of her. While my investigations 
were going on, she requested claimants to pre- 
sent this account as a debt against the nation, 
and thus be paid, and she be thus enabled to 
get paid again. This is inadmissible. It is 
no debt against any body ; but a payment to 
her, and, therefore it must be disallowed. 
No. 7. — Madeline Ducharme, charged with, $254 42 
Deduct for liquor, charged as 

vinegar, - - - - $1 00 
This woman is married to 
Geo. Delisle, and the Chiefs 
in Council refused to pay any 
debts of his contracting. The 
following items for things got 
by him, must also be deduct- 
ed : 

3 yds. red calico, $1 50 
1 pair shoes, - 2 00 

Sundry merchandize, 5 91 
Red flannel, - 75 

1 lb. salts, - - 50 
Buttons, - - 62 
1 fine round-about, 3 00 
1 pair fine shoes, - 2 00 

16 28 

17 28 



237 14 

No. 8. — Kaw-shee-noosh, charged with and proved, 17 00 

No. 9. — Ke-waw-na, do do - 12 00 

No. 10.— Besiah, charged with, - - $1135 62 
There are some errors in this ac- 
count. 
A receipt for $600 is twice 

charged, - - $600 00 

Amount carried forward, $2,082 73 



33 



Brought forward, 
There are errors in that re- 
ceipt, for overcharging, - 43 83 
Some other items are twice 

charged, - - - 33 50 

677 33 



$2082 73 



No. 11.- 
No. 12.- 



-N-yok-qui-see charged with. 
Deduct for error. 



30 13 
1 50 



-M-shik-kaw-ne charged with, - 138 75 

Deduct for amount prior to August, 
1835, which is also included in 
note, ----- 31 



lO 



No. 13. — Aub-e-naw-be's band charged with, 5,000 00 
Deduct for errors and overcharges, 114 50 



No. 14.- 

No. 15.- 



No. 16.- 
No. 17.- 



— Me-chee-qua charged with, and proved at, - 
-Wee-wee-sah and band charged at, 1,733 25 
Deduct for errors and liquor dis- 
guised, . . - . . 7 37 



-Ash-kum's band charged with, - - - 

-All the bands charged with, ... 

This is for provisions delivered to the Indians, 
in their own country, when in a starving 
condition, in February, 1837. The Indians 
are so impi-ovident as frequently to be placed 
in that condition. They have no resource, 
but an application to the traders. I con- 
sider such claims as entitled to peculiar fa- 
vor. 

Miss-no-que charged with, and proved, 



No. 18 

No. 19. — Nas-wau-kee charged with. 

Deduct for lifjuor disguised, $3 00 
Do. for duplicate charges, 129 00 



328 79 



Add for error, 
Total deduction, 



132 00 
3 75 



128 25 



No. 20. — Heirs of Pe-chee-ko, obligation for, 800 00 
These persons contracted to sell to 
claimants a section of land, and 
received for their pay several small 
notes, payable in goods. All those 
notes were paid and taken up, and 

Amount carried forward, 
E 



458 29 



28 63 



1D7 00 



4,885 50 
17 00 



1,725 88 
301 50 
172 00 



80 50 



200 54 



$10,059 57 



34 

Brought forward, $10,059 57 

then it turned out that they had 
already sold the land to some one 
else. It is therefore proper they 
should re-pay the price they re- 
ceived of Ewings, deducting for 
liquor, - - - - • 2 43 



797 57 



No. 21. — Miss-no-qui and party, - - 388 25 
Deduct a note of April, 1836, which 
is also charged and allowed in pre- 
vious No. 12, - $120 00 
Add for error, - - - 2 00 



118 00 
220 25 



No. 22. — Angellique, Washionas's widow, - 276 08 

Deduct for error $6 00, add for same 
cause 25 cents, - - 5 75 

Deduct a note of $14 00, 

charged as No. 64, - 14 00 

The whole of this charge is 
for goods delivered to An- 
gellique, to trade on com- 
mission. She says that 
claimant gave away, of 
those goods, - - - 30 00 

And she ought to be paid the 

use of her horse, - - 20 00 



69 75 
206 33 



No. 23.--Band of Muk-kose, proved at, - - - 200 00 
No. 24. — Passees, band of Che-kose, do. - - - 150 00 

These two items are not charged on book, but 
are presented in the shape of obligations, 
which contain the particular articles sold, 
and a note for the amount ; the latter having, 
from appearance, been signed before the for- 
mer were written ; but the delivery of all 
the property is proved. 
No. 25. — I-o-wah and several other bands, $7,654 50 

1st item. Goods delivered by con- 
sultation with Agent, in or about 
August, 1835, $1,209. 

Deduct for error, - - 6 00 

2d and 3d items, amounting 
to $6,100, for goods deli- 
vered to the Indians by J. 
Barron, on commission, as 
Clerk of claimants. The 



Amount carried forward, $11,633 72 



35 

Brought forward, $11,633 72 
particular Indians are not 
named. There must be a 
deduction on the follow- 
ing : 

1. Goods delivered by Bar- 
ron in Jan., 1835, [whether 
this claim then belonged to 
the Ewings or Barron, it 
is equally barred by the 
Register of 1835,] - 506 75 

2. Sundry credits which ap- 
pear on the books, and not 
entered on the abstract, 204 12 

8. Liquor charges, - - 8 50 

4. Onaccount of items which 
are evidently for Barron's 

own use, - - 196 93 

5. On account of interest 
charged, - - - 127 00 

1,009 30 

6,645 20 



No. 26. — Wee-we-sah, proved at, - - - - 87 25 

No. 27. — Besiah and baud, for treaty purposes, - - 800 00 
No. 28. — Pe-ash-way, account for, - - 247 00 

Deduct charges to DeLisle and Samuel 

Dickson, - - - . 5 50 

241 50 



No. 29. — Tow-taw, is a Miami, (disallowed.) 

No. 30. — Jose Burrel's widow, claim entered at $10, 

proved at, - - - - - - - 10 50 

No. 31. — Pe-ash-way, for a horse sold him, - - 125 00 

No. 32. — Louison, account for goods, ... 160 37 

This is exclusive of claimant's payment for a 
half section of land bought by him of Lou- 
ison. 
No. 33.— Mosac's band, - . - . $1,724 25 
Deduct for goods and cash to 

Jos. Morland - $50 00 

For old note, on voucher B, 18 50 
For error in D, - - - 2 00 
For a scarlet blanket, omitted, 

and charged three times, - 16 00 

< 86 50 



No. 34. — Jose's widow, charged at, - - 28 75 
Deduct for items charged elsewhere, 24 87 



1,637 75 



3 87 



No. 35. — Quash-qua's account proved, ... 6 00 

Amount carried forward, $21,291 16 



36 

Brought forward, $21,291 16 

No. 36. — Barrel's party is charged $15 00 for a horse 
taken of these claimants at the payment of 
1836. This must come in as a depredation 
claim, under the act of 1834, and is not pro- 
perly before me. Disallowed. 
No. 37. — Is for a barrel of whiskey stolen, and is, like 

the prior item, a depredation claim. 
No. 38. — For goods delivered to Messah, on a contract 
for the purchase of lands. There heing no- 
thing to prevent the contracts being completed, 
this case is like that of 0-ke-chee. See ante, 
No. 6, and for same reason must be disal- 
lowed. 
No. 89. — Balance due on Register of 1835, 

claimed at, - - - $2,335 53 

On that paper there was allowed the 

Ewings $8231,00, not $8331 as 

now stated by the claimants. 

They received, in 1835, $2,500, 

and in 1836, $4,000 ; leaving due 

on that account, $1,731. Ewing 

and Aveline were allowed on same 

paper $1,138, and received $515 

in 1835, and $311 in 1836; leav- 

ing due to them on that account 

$312. These two balances make 

the sum of $2,043 as due to them, 

instead of $2,335 53, as charged ; 

therefore deduct the error, - 292 53 



2,043 00 

No. 40. — Sundry accounts made in May and June, 1837, 404 25 
Nos. 45 to 110 inclusive. — Sundry small notes against 
different Indians, amounting to, 1,555 62 
Deduct No. 61 $7, and No. 68 
$10, not against these In- 
dians, - - - - 17 00 
Deduct No, 110, which Wee- 
saw disputes ; and it is 
therefore referred to the 
private account between 
the parties, - - - 60 GO 
Deduct on account of error 

in No. 100, - - - 20 00 

97 00 

1,458 62 



$25,197 03 
There are two items in the account requiring particular notice. 



37 ' 

No. 41 is a claim for $895 for interest on a large note. On the 
22d of September, 1836, and on the " Payment Ground near the 
Tippecanoe River," these claimants obtained the signature of all the 
Chiefs and headmen to a note to them for S31,9.}5 18 ; which in- 
cluded all their claim up to that time. By that note the Chiefs 
promise to pay that sum out of the first moneys due them from the 
United States. It does not otherwise specify when it is payable, 
nor does it mention interest. Three days afterwards, when the In- 
dians were paid, the Chiefs attempted to pay these claimants 
$16,000 ; but were prevented by the disturbance which then occur- 
red ; and all that claimants finally received at that payment, was 
$8,311 ; and on the balance this charge of interest is made. 

I do not think it proper to allow interest on accounts against In- 
dians in any case : — 

1st. Because they do not understand this process of money's mul- 
tiplying itself; and the idea that their debts are to be increased by 
such an operation never enters their minds in the contraction of 
their debts. 

2d. Interest is a charge created either by agreement between 
the contracting parties, or authorized by some positive enactment 
of statute, and neither of those requisites exist in regard to Indian 
debts. 

3d. In trusting Indians, the traders almost always provide for 
the risk and delay by the price they charge for their goods. 

This item is therefore disallowed. 

No. 42 is a claim for supplies to these Indians, $1,600. This is 
a charge for feeding and entertaining Indians, dec. when at Logans- 
port, from June, 1833, to June, 1837, at $400 per year. 

In the first place, claimants are barred from asking any compen- 
sation for " supplies" prior to August, 1835 ; because, by signing 
the Register of that year, they discharged the Indians from all such 
claims. This disposes of two years and two months, or $867 of 
this item : and the only question is upon the allowance of $733 on 
this ground. 

That the claimants supplied the Indians, as mentioned in this 
charge, is established beyond doubt. But it is also established 
that their doing so is a necessary part of the trade, resorted to in 
order to secure the trade, and is provided for in the profits charged 
on the goods sold. 

This is so in the Indian trade everywhere, and the traders have 
not a good right to present a claim on that account. 

They make a profit on the goods which they sell to the Indians, 
and a profit on the furs and peltries they receive in return ; the lat- 
ter being, not unfrequently, the most valuable part of their profits. 

In all trade, the loss by bad debts is guarded against by the pro- 
fits charged on all the goods sold. In cases where, by treaty stipula- 
tions, the bad debts of an Indian trader are provided for and paid, 
as in this case, the actual profits are increased in proportion to the 
risk. 

A debt, properly so called, must depend upon a contract, where 
the minds of both parties meet. This cannot, with propriety, be 



38 

said of "supplies," which the Indians understand are paid for in the 
prices charged them on the goods they buy, and which they other- 
wise return by nameless acts of kindness of a similar character, for 
which they never think of making a charge. No one can live in 
the Indian country without receiving and granting favors of this 
kind constantly. 

This item cannot be allowed. 

The claimants were large purchasers of Indian reservations, and 
the counsel for the Indians filed a specification of their claims against 
them on this account. Claimants made a counter-statement, the 
accuracy of which was not disputed, except as to the prices at which 
claimants ought to account for the lands ; the counsel claiming that 
the prices ought to be governed by the value at the time of my in- 
vestigation. 

I decided, that as Government had considered individual Indians 
as capable of holding lands by patent, I should be bound to consider 
them as capable of selling ; and that wherever as much as the go- 
vernment price had been paid by claimants, I should consider the 
purchases as fair, at the prices paid, unless some evidence should be 
given showing that the Indian selling his lands had been imposed 
upon or deceived in some manner. No such evidence being offered, 
no further notice of this point is necessary. 

The following, then, is the result of my examination in this case : 
Allowances as above specified, ... 25,197 03 
Deduct half of amount paid by the five Commis- 
sioners, in 1836 ; the other half being accounted 
for in No. 39, - - - - - - 4,000 00 



Amount allowed, $21,197 03 

Thus making a deduction of $6,231 11 from the total amount 
claimed. 



No. 27. 
EDWIN P. HOPKINS, $146,12 

One item of this claim, $34,25, was properly chargeable to Joseph 
Barron, and was withdrawn by the claimant. 

It was the practice of the claimant, in selling goods to the In- 
dians, to take their notes, and endorse on the back of each the par- 
ticular goods sold. 

All the claim was proved by witnesses, or admitted by the Indians, 
except the two last items on the abstract, amounting to $2,00 ; but 
there were some mistakes. For instance. No. 1, a note against 
Nas-wau-ka, was charged at $43,00, but the claim was admitted 
only for $26,00. And No. 3, which is charged at $27,25, is a note 
for $20,25 only. 

The matter stands thus. 

Amount claimed, $146,12 

Deduct, Amount withdrawn, $34,25 

" Two items not proved, 2,00 



39> 

" Mistake in No. 1, 17,00 

" Do. in No. 3, 7,00 60,25 



Amount allowed, $85,87 



No. 28. 
GILLIS McBEAN, - $21,96 

This was a claim against a man by the name of Moreland or 
Morrissau. 

The man had some Indian blood in him, but the Interpreter and 
Indian agent said the tribe had refused to acknowledge him as a 
member ; and the Chiefs, upon being consulted by me, repeated the 
same thing, and refused to permit his debts to be paid. 

This claim is therefore disallowed. 



No. 29. 
JORDAN VIGUS, $269,87 

This claim is for goods sold to the Indians, and is proved by the 
original entries, and by the testimony of claimant's clerk and the gov- 
ernment interpreter. $29,25 of the claim was for goods delivered 
in December, 1834. Claimant, in August 1835, gave the Indians a 
receipt in full. This amount must therefore be rejected. 

Claimed, $269,87 

Disallowed, 29,25 



Allowed, $240,62 



No. 30. 

WILLIAM POLKE, $156,25 

Claimant is a farmer, and his claim is entirely for provisions and 
necessaries furnished to the Indians in his vicinity, and to others at 
the request of the Indian agent while he was holding councils with 
them. All the claim is proved except No. 14 $5, and No. 15 
$33,25. 

Claim, $156,25 

Disallowed, 38,25 



Allowed, $118,00 



No. 31. 
JACOB HULL, $12,00 

This claim, for ear-rings, breast-pin &c., was proved by an In- 



40 

dian by the name of Andrew Jackson. He, however, states the 
price of the ear-rings at $3 each, while they are charged at $4,00. 

Claim, $12,00 

Deduction, 2,00 



Allowed, $10,00 



No. 32. 
SILAS ATCHESON, $110,00 

This claim is against a woman by the name of Miss-na-go-qua 
for breaking and tending a field of five acres, and for making and 
putting up 3000 rails. There is no date to the account, nor is its 
justness sworn to. 

The only proof offered is the squaw, who says that the work was 
done in 1832 or 1833, that she once paid $50 upon it, and Gen. 
Marshall, the former Indian agent, paid also $30 upon it. 

It also appears from papers before me, that on the 23d August, 1835, 
he received of the Indians, at their general payment $177, and gave 
a receipt in full ; and the next day obtained the note of the Chiefs for 
$500, upon which he, or his agent or assignee, received $250 in 
1836. So that it would seem that he has already received $507, and 
has a note against the Cliiefs for $250 more. Of course nothing 
can be allowed him either on the account or the note. 



No. 33. 
BARTHELETT & GODFREY, $35,75 

This is for sundry small items sold to sundry Indians, who admit 
the justness of the claim. 

It is therefore allowed. 



No. 34. 
JACOB BOZARTH, $78,37 

This is for a horse sold to Miss-sin-a-go-qua for $75, and in- 
terest upon it. She says that she was to pay only $70 for it ; but the 
witness who was present when it was sold, says the price agreed 
upon was $75, and he explained it to her so that she understood 
it. She must therefore be mistaken, but the charge of interest can- 
not be allowed as made. 

Allowed at, $75,00 



No. 35. 
GUSTAVAS A. CONE, $43,50 

The claimant, in Nov. 1836, found a horse belonging to the In- 



41 

dian Andrew Jackson, and kept him until the investigation before 
me ; and now presents this claim for feeding the horse, and for ex- 
penses of taking him up and posting him as an estray. The price 
charged is at the usual rate in that country, and as claimant has 
given up the horse to its owner, he ought to be paid his bill. 

It is therefore allowed at $43,50 



No. 30. 

LOUIS DROUILLARD, $1206,50 

It is not easy to understand precisely what is the amount 
claimed in this case. On the absti-act filed with me, and sworn 
to, it is stated at $1030, giving the items as things sold to Ashkum, 
with one item for Joe Morrisau's note and interest, $173,00. But 
the claimant also produces the following notes : — 

1st. 1 against the Chief Ashkum, dated April 25, 1837, for $1000,00 
2d. 1 against Do. do May 8, « " 80,00 

3d. 1 against Do. do May 6, " " 10,00 

4th. 1 against Do. do Jan. 26, " " 26,00 



Total against Ashkum $1116,00 

5th. 1 against Joe Morrisau and wife, dated 

Jan. 16, 1836, for $88,67 

6th. 1 against Do. dated Dec. 17, 1835, for 116,50 

altered to $126,50. 
7th. 1 against Do. dated March 18, 1836, for 118,00 
8th. 1 against Do. dated Nov. 13, 1835, for 118,00 
9th. 1 against Do. dated May 13, 1836, for 152,00 
10th. 1 against Do. dated May 15, 1836, for 173,59 



' Total against Morrisau and wife 766,76 

Or an apparent total claim of $1882,76 

But all he actually claimed before me was the two notes against 
Ashkum, Nos. 1 and 2, and the note against Morrisau and wife, No. 
9, for$lo2 and interest, making a total of $1253,59. 

The other two notes against Ashkum are included in other items ; 
to wit, that for $10 is added to Morrisau's note (No. 6), and the 
$26 included in the note of $1000. The note of Morrisau (No. 10) for 
$173,59 is also included in the $1000 note, and he claims for No. 
9 also ($152.) The other notes against Morrisau, though apparently, 
upon the face of them, as good and unliquidated as any other, he 
admits have been settled. The particular doubt is, whether the note 
for $152 ought to be allowed. 

If it was actually due, why was it not included in the $1000 note 
as well as that for $173,59 given only two days afterwards ? 

Morrisau and wife are both Indians, and illiterate. They took 
goods of the claimant to sell on commission to the Indians, and 
as they took them, gave notes for them. Up to the 13th May. 

F 



42 

1836, the goods they had thus taken amounted to $441,17 : and on 
that day they settled their account, and received credit for peltries, 
cash, and goods returned, amounting to $358,59, leaving a balance 
due from them of only $83,58 instead of the amount of the note 
given, $152,00. 

Upon that settlement they returned to claimant goods amounting 
to $131,84, and two days afterwards i-eceived those same goods 
and others amounting to $173,59, and gave their note, or rather 
receipt for them, which is included in the $1000 note as above men- 
tioned. There is no evidence before me to show whether they did 
or did not account for that outfit, other than such as is to be drawn 
from the $1000 note. 

Under these circumstances I have no data by which I can come 
to a certain result, and I feel that I am liable err, decide how I may. 
This uncertainty arises from the manner in which the accounts are 
kept and the claim prsented. 1 owe it, however, to the claimant to 
say, that there is nothing before me calculated to impeach his in- 
tegrity. On the other hand, I am satisfied that it can be implicitly 
relied upon. But his ignorance alike of our language, and of a 
proper mode of keeping accounts, and the fact that the persons em- 
ployed by him are very illiterate and ignorant, render it necessary 
that I should confine the allowance to him to the amount of the 
goods, whose actual delivery he has proved. 

He is therefore allowed $1070,00 



No. 37. 
JOSEPH P. BERRY, $354,00 

This claim is presented to me in the shape of a note signed by 
some of the Chiefs. No original entries are produced. But it ap. 
pears from the testimony of Barron, the government interpreter, 
and one of claimant's workmen, that when the Indians got goods of 
the claimant, they gave notes or receipts for them, which were all 
given up and destroyed when this note was taken. At that time a 
settlement took place in the presence of the interpreter, who swears 
to the correctness of the settlement, which is also admitted to me 
by the Chiefs. 

It is therefore proper to allow the claim. 

Allowed $354,00 



No. 38. 

SIN-IS-QUA. (Thos. Robb's Wife.) $3528,00 

Claimant is an Indian woman, to whom, by a treaty which Gen. 
Marshall made, but which the government did not ratify, two sec- 
tions of land were reserved. By the treaty made by Col. Pepper, 
(which was ratified) no reservations were made ; but the Colonel 
expressed his belief that she would experience no difficulty in 



43 

getting the money which was paid for those two sections. This 
claim is now presented, in part, for the price of those two sections. It 
was at best a gratuity to her, which I am not authorized, by the 
treaty, to allow as a "just debt." 

The residue of the claim is for her share of the amount due her 
band in 1836, which she says was $2748, upon which she received 
only $500. There is no evidence whatever to show whether she 
received less or more than her share, and nothing, of course, to jus- 
tify an allowance. 

The Chiefs, upon being consulted as to the validity of this claim, 
deny it in toto. 

It is therefore disallowed. 



No. 39. 
JOHN B. BOURE, $1600 

This is a claim for goods delivered for treaty purposes under 
treaty No. 4, made by Gen. Marshall with Ashkum and Washioness 
in December, 1834, which was not ratified. 

The delivery of the goods is proved as well by the certificates of 
Gen. Marshall and the inspectors appointed by him, as by the tes- 
timony given by one of the inspectors, and the admission of the 
Chief Ashkum. 

With these papers are letters from the Cammissioner of Indian 
Affairs, and the Secretary of War ad inlerlm, showing that this is 
not a claim upon government. The Indians alone, therefore, are 
liable. 

This claim is assigned to Messrs. Laverty, Gantley &; Co. of 
New-York, and is properly payable to them. 

It is allowed at $1600,00 



No. 40. 
JACOB R. HALL, $380,00 

This claim is for cultivating the lands of the Indians prior to 
1835. The whole amount of the account is $780, upon which he 
admits that he received $280 in 1834, and $120 in 1835. 

Without discussing the question, whether the claim is sufficiently 
supported by the evidence, it is enough to know that the claimant's 
name is attached to the Register of August, 1835. There is no 
allowance on that paper to him by name, but there are two sums 
allowed to " Cultivators," one for $688,00 and one for $2652,00 ; 
but his name appears to the receipt whereby he discharges the In- 
dians from all claims up to that date. 

This claim is therefore disallowed. 



44 

No. 41. 
JOHN GUY, $65,00 

$4.5 of this claim is for depredations committed by the Indians 
in 1832 and 1833. 

I am of opinion that no claim of this character ought to come 
in as a debt before me, because the general law points out a speci- 
fic mode for the adjustment of such claims, which secures the pay- 
ment of a just claim, and at the same tmie gives to the Indians a 
full opportunity of investigation, and of making the individual 
offender contribute at least his full share towards its liquidation, 
advantages which do not exist before me. 

The residue of the claim, $20, is for two hogs sold to Aub-e-nan- 
la's band in 1835, by order of Gen. Marshall. The orders for 
these were delivered to Gen. Marshall in 1834, and in that year the 
Indians put $3000 into his hands to pay this and other debts : whe- 
ther he paid it or not, I have no means of JLidging. Tiie Indians 
having once paid it to the person whom the claimant appointed as 
his agent for that purpose, the claim is good against that agent. 
The Indians ought not to pay it again. 
It is therefore disallowed. 



No. 42. 

JOHN CONNER, $85,00 

This is for work done in cultivating the fields of the Indians, and 
for making a coffin and building a house. 

The perfoi'mance of the services being proved, the claim is 

Allowed at $85,00 



No. 43. 
HUBBELL & CANNON, $237,00 

This account is well kept and satisfactorily proved. The only 
doubt is as to the balance of $119,38, on a bill'of goods delivered to 
Joseph Barron for the Indians. He says he delivered them all to 
the Indians. They denied it at first, but after some conversation 
with him, they admitted it. They were all such articles as the 
Indians would want. 

There are many cases of this character before me, and as Barron 
is also a claimant as a creditor, there are two contingencies to be 
guarded against : one is, that the Indians may have to pay the 
same debt twice; and the other, that they may pay for articles 
which they did not have. I can therefore allow such claims only 
where, as in this case, the Indians themselves admit their indebted, 
ness. 

Claim $237,00 

Deduct for error, 50 

Allowed, 8238,50 



45 

No. 44. 

HENRY OSSEM, $3855,25 

This claim is presented in the shape of two notes. One signed by 
Mis-qua-back, Misset, and others, for $1000, balance due in 1836, 
and for $825,50 for goods and provisions delivered in 1837 ; and 
the other signed by Kin-koash and others for $800, balance of 1836, 
and $1229,75 delivered in 1837. The notes are dated 17th May, 
and 11th May 1837, and were prepared for this investigation. Nei- 
ther original entries, nor accounts of items, are produced. 

Under such circumstances the notes would not be sufficient evi- 
dence of an indebtedness. But the claim is supported by the fol- 
lowing additional evidence : — 

1st. That during the years 1835 and 1836 he bought goods for the 
Indian trade amounting to $5332,15. 

2d. That he traded with the Indians, and trusted out his goods 
to them. 

3d. That last fall his store was full of goods, having then on hand 
at least $2000 worth, and this spring had not $30 worth left in his 
store. 

4th. That he raised corn, and trusted that out to the Indians. 

5th. That he kept no account books, but made his entries on 
the walls of his cahin or lose pieces of paper, or took notes as the 
goods were delivered, and destroyed his papers when the large notes 
were given. 

6th. That he is a careless but honest man. 

7th. That when the notes in question were signed, their purport 
was explained to the Indians by a person friendly to them, and who 
was competent to understand and explain them. 

8th. One of the Indians who signed one of the notes, appeared 
before me, and admitted that he alone owed claimant $300, that the 
Indians had emptied his store, and the claimant always dealt fairly 
with them. 

9th. That by the treaty of Col. Pepper made with Mus-qua-buck's 
band on the 26th March 1835, (Treaty No. 11, among those an- 
nexed to my report,) the Indians admitted their indebtedness to him 
of $3000, and provided for its payment ; but that section of the 
treaty was not ratified by the senate. 

10th. It appears, by papers in my possession, that Ossem, in Au- 
gust 1835, settled all his claims with these Indians, and received 
$2000 in full ; and that in September, 1836, he presented a claim for 
$3000, and received $2000 upon it. 

It is not to be supposed, however, that his whole trade was with- 
out any return. What the precise amount of that was, is not shown ; 
and it can therefore be estimated only according to the usual course 
of the trade. 

This case, stated in reference to this testimony, would appear thus. 

Goods bought, as above mentioned $5332,15 

Add for profit thereon and corn raised 1333,03 

$6665,18 



46 

Deduct for cash at payment of 1836 $2000,00 

" for furs mentioned 200,00 

" for other returns, estimated at i of 

whole trade 2221,72 4421,72 



Leavinf]f a balance of $2243,46 

Which is allowed. 



No. 45. 
WILLIAM MARSHALL, $1407,26 

Claimant was formerly the Indian agent for these Indians, and 
this claim is for various sums paid and assumed by him for them, 
and the only date there is to the paper is November 1834. 

To the claim is attached Gen. Marshall's certificate of its just- 
ness, and a letter from the late Commissioner of Indian affairs. 

The General was prevented by indisposition from attending before 
me, but upon being written to by me in reference to this claim and 
one of the Indians against him, he referred me in reply to Cyrus 
Viffus and John B. Diiret for evidence. From their examination 
the following facts appeared. 

At the payment of the annuity to these Indians in 1834, they put 
into Gen. Marshall's hands $8000 of their money to pay their debts 
with. He employed Mr. Vigus to pay out that money for him. 
Mr. Vigus kept an account of the disposition of the money, a copy 
of which, and the General's orders upon him, will be found with the 
papers in this case. 

Among other payments was one of $150 to Pierre or Peter Long, 
lois. This was probably on account of the two first items in the 
claims now presented. 

There is also a payment of $200 to Dr. Fitch, which is proba- 
bly a part of the $212,76 charged by claimant as paid to that 
person. 

There is a payment to John Baccus of $300, and on the claim 
is a charge of $320 paid him. 

So of a payment of $70 to J. Johnson, and there is a charge on 
the claim of $100. 

So of a payment of $150 to James Moore, which is charged on 
the claim at $106. 

The whole claim of General Marshall for payments and assump- 
tions is $2507,26 

J. Grover say that the asssumption to him 

has not been paid. Deduct for this $101,00 

So as to the assumption to Hamilton and 

Taber 1100,00 

Of his payments, it appears above that part 

of them were made by the Indians' mo. 

ney, amounting to 870,00 

And it appears from Mr. Vigus's statement 



47 

that the General received himself out of 
that money several sums amounting in 
the aggregate to 661,00 $,2732,00 



Leaving a balance against him of $224,74 

It is probable that the $661 was paid by the General on claims 
against the Indians, but in the absence of all testimony to that 
effect, I cannot take that for granted. 

But I must disallow the whole claim. 



No. 46. 
BOSTWICK & PUTNAM, $717,69 

This claim is well supported by proof of the delivery of the goods 
charged ; but there is an error of $1 in voucher No. 7, and No. 2 
for $11 is against an Indian of a different nation. 

The only doubt in the case is in regard to voucher No. 13, 
amounting to $613,81. This is a note signed by several of the 
principal Chiefs, and contains the particulars of the goods delivered. 
But they were all delivered to Joseph Barron, and frequently when no 
Indians were present. It was the common practice of Barron to 
get goods himself, and afterwards get the Indians to assume the 
debt. Sometimes they would get of him all the goods, but frequently 
only a part. In this case it is manifest that they did not have the 
benefit of all the goods, such as slates and pencils, copy-books, 
pumps, neck-stocks, and military trimmings. Barron and the Indians 
say that they received a part and he a part ; but how much, neither 
can tell. I can therefore only estimate, which I do, at one-half. 

Claim, $717,69 

Deduct for errors, 12,00 

On No. 13, 306,90 



318,90 



Allowed, $398,79 



No. 47. 

GEORGE BOZARTH, $106,26 

This is an account for provisions furnished to different Indians 
at sundry times ; and is not only proved, but admitted by the In- 

dians. 

Allowed at $106,26 



48 

No. 48. 
ISAAC KENDALL, $9,25 

For a hog sold to an Indian, and by him admitted to be just. 

Allowed. 



No. 49. 
PETER BONAVENTURE, $200,00 

This claim is presented for " cloth, blankets, calico, shawls, and 
silver trinkets," specifying nothing, and dated " 1818." There is 
no evidence to support it, no particulars given, nor is the justness 
of the claim sworn to. 

In 1836 he presented his claim in this form, — " for merchandize 
and provisions furnished said nation from the year 1804 till the 
present date," and upon that he received $100. 

Nothing can be allowed him now, and he ought to pay back what 
he received last year. 



No. 50. 
FRANCIS GODFROY, $1100 

This claim also is a general charge for " sundry merchandizes," 
furnished sundry parties " at different times, from the year 1816 
till the present, 1833," $20U0 ; and then he credits $500 received in 
1833, and $400 received in 1836. 

In 1835 he settled his whole claim for $500, and not only signed 
the general receipt, but also gave a separate one, discharging the 
tribe from all claims up to that date. But, notwithstanding this, he 
again presented his claim in 1836, and obtained $400 more upon 
it ; and he now presents it again, without particulars, without making 
oath to its justness, and without any other evidence than a note 
signed by one of the Chiefs. 

Of course nothing can be allowed to him, and he ought to pay 
back his last year's receipt. 



No. 52. 

WM. G. EWING & CO., $451,06 

The delivery of all the goods in this case being proved, the claim 
must be allowed, except a charge of $5,25 for interest. 

Claim, $451,06 

Deduct, 5.25 

Allowed, $445,81 



49 



No. 53. 
ALLAN HAMILTON & CO., $16,398,76 

This claim, as it is one of the largest, so it has been scrutinized 
with great care. 

It is for trade, and was supported by books of original entries, 
and by proof of delivery of the property in most instances. 
The proof was ample and complete, because regular entries and 
memoranda were made at the time the goods were delivered. 

Claimants were purchasers of Indian reservations, and those pur- 
chases came up before me in the same shape, and were disposed of 
the same as in the case of the Messrs. Ewings, No. 26. 

The following is this claim accurately stated : — 

No. 1. — Is the balance due on the 

Register of 1835, $4003 75 

No. 2. — We-wiss-ah's note, 525 00 

Upon examining the original en- 

tries, it appears the note is given 

for $5,00 too much, $5 00 

There is liquor included in, 

amounting to, 3 75 

There is a credit, omitted, of, 2 00 



8 75 



No. 3. — Accounts against We-wiss-ah, 951 33 

The account is only 940,23, $11 00 
There is liquor charged, amount- 
ing to 11 50 
There is an error in carrying out 
10 yds. cloth at $7,50 per yd. 
Carried out at 82,50, 7 50 



516 25 



30 00 



No. 4. — lowah and others, carried out, 247 75 

There is an error in the addition a- 
gainst the claimants of, 9 00 



No. 5. — Spota and others, 296 00 

Deduct for error 50 cts., for liquor 
50 cts., 1 00 



921 23 



256 75 



295 00 



No. 6. — lowah's brother, sale proved of a hat, 6 00 

No. 7. — Kaw-kaw-ka, do. a shirt, 1 25 

No. 8. — No-taw-kah's party, do. of sundries, 125 00 

No. 9. — Mot-a's party, 36 00 

Deduct for liquor, 1 50 

34 50 

No. 10. — Kawk's party, proved as charged, 108 00 



Amount carried forward, 6267 73 

G 



50 
Brought forward, $6267 73 



No. 11. — Chip-e-way-noc, charged at, 
Deduct for error in addition, 

No. 12. — A. Jackson, proved as charged, 
No. 13. — Oke-chee, charged at, 

There is a mistake against claimants 

in addition, 

No. 14. — Che-chock-kose, 
No. 15. — Ma-shock, 

Deduct for liquor. 



No. 16. — John Barnet, 

No. 17. — Quash-qua, (deduct $1 for liquor,) 

Nos. 18, 19, 20, 21. — No deductions. 

No. 22. — Aub-a-nob-be'sand Ke-wana's bands. 
These goods were dehvered upon the 
orders of Gen. Marshall in Dec, 1834, 
for treaty purposes under treaties 
annexed, Nos. 2 and 9, (not ratified.) 
The delivery of the goods and the 
destruction of the vouchers by Gen. 
M. are proved. 

Nos. 23 & 28.— Amounting to, 1993 00 

Are goods delivered for treaty pur- 
poses under treaties Nos. 8 and 9. 
The delivery of the goods, and the 
agent's orders therefor, are proved. 
Deduct for error in addition, 78 00 



160 00 




50 






159 50 
5 50 




11 63 




1 00 






12 63 
15 00 




74 88 




3 50 






71 38 
70 30 






14 50 




18 00 




lObO 00 



1915 00 
Nos. 24, 25, 26, & 27. — Goods delivered 

Aubanoba's band, 4647 77 

These are for goods delivered at four 
different periods on the strength of 
the treaty ceding their reserves. 

The delivery of all the property is 
proved by persons who witnessed it 
and made memoranda at the time. 
Those memoranda are notes or re- 
ceipts showing the particular property 
delivered, and the prices, or bills cer- 
tified to by the witnesses. 

These items show how improper it 
would be to give full faith to an In- 
dian's mere promissory note. The 
claimants produce one note by the 

Amount carried forward, $14257 31 



51 

Brought forward, $14257 81 

band for, $2000 

One note by one of the band for, 120 

And another by the band for, 4647 77 



Making a total of, $6767 77 
The latter note includes the two 
former, but they all remain in the 
possession of claimants ; and but for 
their honesty in presenting the matter 
to me fairly as it was, I might have 
found it difficult to have discovered 
it. There was no danger that these 
claimants would permit me to allow 
the same thing to them twice, and I 
mention this only as an apt illustra- 
tion of the propriety of the rule requir- 
ing something more than a mere note. 
No. 29. — A.b. Burnet, an educated Indian, ad- 
mits this, 134 56 

Deduct for liquor, 2 50 



132 06 



No. 30. — Goods delivered to lowah's band 

at sundry times, delivery proved by 

witnesses who were present, 1702 59 

Nos. 31, 32.— Yellow River Band, 4157 75 

These goods were delivered in two 

parcels on the 25th August, 1836, in 

consequence of the treaty of the 5th 

of that month, (No. 7.) The delivery 

is proved by those who saw it and 

signed a certificate at the time. 
No. 33.— We-wiss-ah's party, 2035 76 

This bill is for goods delivered at 

sundry times, and is proved by the 

original entries and the clerks. Thei'e 

must be a deduction for liquor, 7 75 



2028 01 
No. 34.— Sundry bands, 479 29 

This is for goods delivered to poor 

people of the nation, on an order 

from Chiefs, by which claimants were 

to deliver $1500, but only delivered 

this amount. 
No. 35. — Neswauka. A small bill proved. 

Charged at, 6 00 

Correctly added, it is $7,00, 1 00 

7 00 



Amount carried forward, $22764 01 



52' 
Brought forward, §22764 01 

No. 36. — Mat.wa-ah, proved at, 11 25 



$22,775 26 



Deduct sum paid in 1836, and not 

otherwise accounted for, 6,500 00 



Allowed $16,275 26 



No. 54. 
DANIEL R. BEARSS, $742,75 

No. 55. 
E. BEARSS & CO., 360,33 



$1103,08 



These claims were presented and examined together. No. 1 of 
the vouchers is a note for $500, signed by the principal Chiefs of 
the nation, and was taken in lieu of various smaller notes for goods, 
which were cancelled when this was taken. There are no items 
shown, nor is there any proof of the delivery of any of the goods. 
The only evidence to support it is the evidence of Colonel Ewing 
that he stated to the signers of this note what it was for; but 
whether the claim was good or not, he did not know, nor did the 
Chiefs \yho signed the note know that, for they were not the per- 
sons originally indebted. Their admission of indebtedness is not, 
therefore, sulTicient ; for it is a well-established fact, that a person of 
influence over the Indians can procure their signatures to almost 
any thing. 

In this case it seems that persons have signed the note who did 
not owe any thing themselves, nor know that anyone else did. The 
claim under this voucher rests solely upon the fact that some Chiefs 
signed the note. And tiiough I am inclined to believe that its re- 
jection may operate hardly, and perhaps unjustly, upon the claim- 
ants, yet, in obedience to my instructions and the rule which go- 
verns my action uniformly, it must be disallowed. 

The other items of the claim are proved principally by a clerk, 
who was a subscribing witness to most of the notes; but he does 
not testify to the delivery of all the property. He proves, how- 
ever, the delivery of some articles in the case of every debtor; that 
they were charged at the time, and that claimant had frequent set- 
tlements with the Indians, with all of which they were well satis- 
tisd. This, with the evidence of the execution of the notes, and the 
other corruboiMting circumstances in tlie case, will warrant the al- 
lowance of the residue of' the claim, excepting those articles not in- 
cluded in notes, and about which there is no sort of proof, as fol- 
lows : 



53 



In No. 3, 3 yds. satinet, 84,50 

In No. 9, 4 articles, 3,50 

In No. 8, 4 yds. jane, 4,00 



12,00 



RECAPITULATION. 



Claim No. 54, 742,75 

Deduct, 500,00 



Allowed, 242,75 

Claim No. 55, 360,33 

Deduction in No. 3, 4,50 

In No. 8, 4,00 

In No. 9, 3,50 



12,00 



Allowed, 348,33 



No. 56. 
PETER WARNER, $200,00 

Che-cose's band owned a reservation of land, and they contracted 
to sell half a section to claimant for 8400. He paid them 8200, 
and entered upon the land, and expended some six or eight hundred 
dollars in improvements. This contract was in contravention of 
the law, and it was never sanctioned by the government ; conse- 
quently the claimant received nothing for his expenditure. The 
band afterw.^.rds sold all their land to government, and in the 
treaty the Indians stipulated for a deed for Warner ; but that sec- 
tion of tlie treaty was stricken out on the ratification. Government, 
therefore, and not Warner, has obtained the title of the Indians to 
the land ; and they desire the re-payment to Warner of the amount 
advanced by him. 

This is just, and the claim is therefore allowed. 

See Treaty annexed. No. 10. 



No. 57. 
WILLIAM D. GREGORY, $68,79 

Claimant bought of the Indians the use of a field one year, and 
paid them 820 for it. He went on and cultivated it; but before he 
could reap any advantage from it, the Indians sold it to government 
for more than that sum. Gregory now claims a re-payment of the 
$20, and compensation for his labor. 

This is right, and the claim is allowed. 



54 

No. 58. 
COMPARET & COLERICK, $2116,38 

This claim, for goods sold, is fully proved by the original entries, 
and by the testimony of the clerks of claimants, except the follow- 
ing, which must be deducted ; $4,44 in No. 10 ; $3.72n No. 11 ; 
$2 in No. 15 ; $5,09 in No. 21, and 50 cts. in- No. 22. 

There are also some mistakes which justify a farther deduction, 
viz. of $116 in No. 2, and of $3.5,30 in No. 25. And an item of 
interest, $4,5'5, must be deducted. 

Most of the claim is for goods sold prior to the payment of the 
annuities in September, 1836. At that time they presented claims 
amounting to more than $1200, and received upon them $400. 

RECAPITULATION, 

Claim $2116,38 

Deduct 

Unsupported items $15,75 

Mistakes 151,30 
Interest charge 4,55 

Payment of last year 400,00 



571,60 



Allowed, $1544,78 



No. 59. 
JOHN H. KITNER, $784,75 

Claimant is a saddler at Logansport, and supplies the Indians 
quite extensively ; and he has kept no other entries than notes or 
receipts signed by his customers at the time of the delivery, all of 
which are produced, and their execution and the delivery of the 
goods sufficiently proved. 

Claimant was one of those who, in August, 1835, made a final 
settlement with the Indians, and agreed that he had no claim prior 
to that date other than those then settled. 

Consequently Voucher No. 1, $192, which is for goods delivered in 
July, 1835 ; and No. 12, lor $1,00, the same, Ciinnot now be allowed. 

Claim $784,75 

Deduct claims prior to August, 1835, 193,00 

Allowed, $591,75 

This includes the balance due him on the Register of 1835. 



No. 60. 

COMPARET & HAMILTON, $300 

By the general treaty of September 23, 1836, the Chiefs acknow- 
ledge that they owe these claimants $800. It was for money lent 
to Che-cha-kose and party to go to Washington. The claim was 



55 

presented in 1836, and 8600 paid upon it, as appears from the re« 
ceipt which the Commissioners have filed with me. 

Mr. Comparet, however, makes oath that he did not count the 
money until he got home, a distance of some 80 miles from the place 
of payment, and then he found onl}' $420 ; and now claims that 
that sum, and not the $600, ought to be deducted on account of 
that payment. He did not accompany the money home himself, 
but sent it with a guard of his own choosing. It was not impos- 
sible that the missing sum might have been abstracted on the way. 
In the absence of all evidence on that point, claimants must be 
bound by their receipt. 

The allowance, therefore, can only be for $200 



No. 6J. 
HENRY TAYLOR. $546,00 

This claimant is a young man, acting as clerk for a trading con- 
cern, for which he was a frequent witness before me ; but this claim 
is presented on his own account. It has some peculiar features, 
which require particular notice. 

No. 1, a note for $5 against the 'Indian Mintormin, is neither prov- 
ed by a witness nor admitted by the Indian, although he was exa- 
mined. 

No. 2. A note against same for $25,00, is proved by the affidavit 
of the subscribing witness; but the Indian said he paid $20 upon it, 
and under the circumstances I feel myself constrained to believe 
him rather than the claimant. This Indian says he got of Taylor 
a pistol and other things; but as Taylor does not claim for them, 
they, most probably, belonged to his employers. 

No. 3 is a note for a horse against Besiah for $150, witnessed by 
General Grover. The General says the horse was not worth more 
than $100, and the voucher shows that it was originally drawn for 
that amount. The Indian, Che-chau-kose, says that Besiah offered 
the horse back to Taylor, and when he refused to take it, Besiah 
paid him $100 upon it. 

No. 4, the delivery of the property is proved. 

No. 5, the same. 

No. 6 is entered on the claim against 0-ke-chee for $60, and 
claimant makes the general affidavit that his " notes and accounts 
are cor7-ect." The history of this transaction is this. An old squaw, 
by the name of Mis-ne-go-qua, presented to Taylor a cloak, which 
cost about $60, and which is presented before me as a claim against 
her. Taylor sold the cloak for $60 to an Indian by the name of 
Abram Burnet, who can read and write, and talk English, and who 
paid $20 upon it. Burnet afterwards went to Taylor's store, and 
was prevailed upon by Taylor to give the note in question. Bur- 
net at first objected to giving the note for more than he owed, but 
upon Taylor's telling him that " it would not come ofi' of him," " but 
it would be paid out of the big pile," he consented to sign it. Tay- 



56 

lor then told Burnet to sign his mother-in-law, O-ke-chee's name to 
it ; and after some demur he did so, and by Taylor's direction put 
" her mark" to it. Taylor's pretence for obtaining her name was 
♦' to sliow what village Burnet belonged to." The value of this 
pretence can be estimated from the facts that Burnet was as well 
known as 0-ke-chee, and his village could be as easily proved as 
hers, — that she was — for an Indian — rich, owning some lands in her 
own right ; while Burnet was known to be poor ; and that Taylor 
presents the claim to me, not truly as a debt of $40 against Burnet, 
but falsely as one of $60 against 0-ke-chee, and swears to its cor- 
redness. 

It must be observed, that neither 0-ke-chee, nor any other Indian 
but Burnet, was present when the note was signed, and Taylor, in 
answer to a remonstrance against such conduct, replied that the 
" Indian trade was a disagreeable business, and they had to resort to 
all sorts of means to get their claims arranged so as to pass investi- 
gation." 

The claimant admits an offset for the price of the cloak. 

Nos. 7 and 8 are proved. 

No. 9 is proved, except the last charge of $4,00. 

A claim for an offset of $100 for a horse which he borrowed of 
Mes-ne-go-qua and did not return, is set up by the attorneys for the 
Indians ; and as Taylor's admits that he got the horse several months 
since, and has not returned it, this claim ought to be allowed. 

This whole claim, therefore, exhibits itself in this light, 

Claim, $546,00 

Deduct No. 1, 5,00 

On No. 2, 20,00 

No. 3, 150,00 

No. 6, 60,00 

On No. 9, 4,00 



239,00 



307,00 
Deduct for the offset, 100,00 



Allowed, 207,00 



No. 62. 
JAMES MOORE «fe CO., $2201,12 

Claimants were Indian traders, and bj'^ their books and witnesses 
prove their accounts. 

No. 1, examined by the books, shows a balance of errors against 
claimknts of ten dollars. 

No. 3 is charged as $60, but $50 of it only is chargeable to the 
Indians. The Chiefs had signed a confession of judgment for a 
large amount, and pretending to have been deceived in the matter, 
they employed Moore to get it set aside for them. He did so, and 
this $50 is for fees he paid to counsel. 



67 

Nos. 9, 10, and 11, amounting to $135, are for monies paid and 
services rendered by Moore in planting fields and cultivating for the 
Indians. He paid out $60 or $70 for the work, and charges as 
much for superintending. This charge is too great, $30 would pay 
him well. 

Moore sold liquor to the Indians, but it is all omitted from this 

claim, except one item of $1,50. He also admits his liability to 

pay $25 in cash and potatoes for the rent of a field of the Indians. 

Claim $2201,12 

Add for errors, 10,00 



Deduct, on No. 3, 

On Nos. 9, 10, and 11, 
For whiskey, 
RentoffielJ, 



$2 


!211,12 


10,00 




25,00 




1,50 




25,00 






61,50 





Allowed, $2149,62 



No. 63. 
ROBERT MARTIN, 263,50 

WILLIAMS & CO., 44,50 



$308,50 

This claim is supported by direct and satisfactory proof, except 
in the following cases : — 

No. 3 is proved at $38,50, instead of $15 as charged. 

No. 4 was withdrawn. 

No. 8 was proved at $5,62, instead of $7,62 as charged. 

No. 9 is properly a charge against the Government, or the Go- 
vernment blacksmith, and not against the Indians. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Claim, $308,00 

Add for error in No. 3, 23,50 



331,50 
Deduct on No. 4, 4,25 

No. 8, 2,00 

No. 9, 10,00 

16,25 



Allowed, $315,25 



No. 64. 

WM. H. MARTIN, $466,01 

This is one of the cases where it is as difficult for the claimant 

H 



58 

as any one else to tell how much is owing him. The following is 
all that appears to be due : — 

No. 1 is admitted by the Indian at, $57,50 

No. 3 is proved by the subscribing witness, 38,00 

No. 5 is proved so far as to $10 worth of jewelry, 5 pair 

of shoes $10, 3 handkerchiefs $3,75, 23,75 

No. 4 is admitted, so far as concerns the amount 

Against Furman, 12,92 

Against Clemens, 14,75 

Against Che-chaw-kose, 2,00 

29,67 



$148,92 

And denied as to every thing else. 

No. 2 is denied. 

Except as to No. 3, claimant has offered no sort of evidence, other 
than the Indians themselves ; and the result of their statement is 
given above. 

There can, therefore, be an allowance only for, $148,92 



No. 65. 

SAM. D. TABER, $473,00 

This claim is all proved ; but it appears that $104 of it was prior 
to August, 1835, at which time claimant also settled all off with the 
Indians, and gave them a receipt in full to that date. 

Claim, $473,00 

Deduct prior to August, 1835, 104,00 

Allowed, $369,00 



No. 67. 
ANDREW GOSLIN, $1400 

This case shows the facility with which a note may be ob- 
tained from the Indians. Claimant is an uneducated Frenchman, 
living with the Indians, and of course upon them, and has an Indian 
wife. He presents a note for $1400, signed by the principal 
Chiefs of the nation, purporting to be " for goods and provisions had ^ 
and received." The sole subscribing witness to it says, he does not 
know that the claim is just ; he only knows that the note was signed, 
and that Goslin never did trade with the Indians on his own ac- 
count. 

The signers of the note, upon being consulted, deny the debt, ex- 
cept one of them, who says that they get drunk sometimes, and one 
morning after having been so, he was told that he had promised 
claimant's two daughters each a half a section of land. He 
would not lie, and therefore he wanted the debt paid. 

Of course it cannot be allowed as a "just debt." 



69 

No. 68. 

K. V. RUNYAN, $39,25 

This claim is proved and admitted. 

A part of it is for velvet to the cloak mentioned in No. 61. 

Allowed, $39,25 



No. 69. 
CANDLER & MUDGE, $854,80 

This claim is one of those where a large amount of goods is 
charged to the Indians, but delivered to the interpreter Barron. 
The amount of that character in this claim is $551,09. Barron 
being irresponsible, would not have been trusted to that amount, 
except on the credit of the Indians ; but it is apparent that he used 
their credit without their consent, for he admits that he alone is liable 
for the payment. 

The whole debt of the claimant is $934,80 

Deduct 

The amount properly chargeable to Barron, $551,09 
The amount paid by M-jo-quis on his debt, 10,00 
And the amount received by claimants in 1836, 100,00 

661,09 



Amount allowed, $302,71 



No. 70. 
EWING, WALKER & CO. {Tippecanoe Outfit.) $6738,12 

In the early part of 1836, these claimants sent Henry Taylor, one 
of their clerks, to the vicinity of the Tippecanoe river, with an out- 
fit. He there opened a store, and sold goods to the bands of Ash- 
kum, We-wiss-ab, and Aub-a-nob-ba ; and this claim is for the goods 
thus sold. 

Taylor was instructed not to make entries on books, but in all 
cases to take the obligations of the Indians. In obeying these in- 
structions, his practice was, when an Indian came to get any thing, 
to write the articles sold at the top of a half of a sheet of paper, and 
at the bottom of it write an obligation signifying that the subscriber 

was owing " E., W. & Co. for the above goods, dollars," 

and require the Indian's signature to that. As the dealer would get 
other goods, they were entered on the same piece of paper ; at the 
close of the trade the column was added up by Taylor, the amount 
inserted in the note by him and his name affixed as a witness. The 
whole of this claim is supported by notes of this character, to the 
correctness of all which Taylor makes oath. 

It is manifest that here is a prolific source of fraud, and that every 
thing depends upon the integrity of the witness. 



60 

If, in this case, Taylor is to be believed, the whole claim is sub- 
stantiated, and ought to be allowed. 

But unfortunately there are too many suspicions attached to his 
integrity to warrant implicit confidence in his statements. 

By reference to his own case, (No. 61,) his conduct, in regard to 
claims against Indians, is presented in a light calculated to impair 
confidence in his dealings. 

Another transaction of his was related to me by Judge Polke, 
whose character I have elsewhere had occasion to speak of as above 
reproach. That will be found related in the paper which I annex 
hereto. 

It is proper to remark, that after I had closed my investigation at 
Logansport, and on my way to Detroit, I stopped at the Judge's 
house ; and the paper annexed, which was written by me at the time 
and signed by him, shows my proceedings there. Taylor's trading 
house was near the Judge's. 

A part of the Judge's relation to me was merely hearsay, and at 
my earliest convenience I took occasion to procure direct testimo- 
ny. To do this, on the 12th of July last I wrote to Mr. Armstrong 
a letter, which I enclosed in one to S. S. Tipton, Esq. one of the 
counsel for the Indians ; and about the 10th of November received a 
reply. That correspondence, and the deposition of Armstrong, are 
also annexed. 

In Taylor's own case (No. 61) he sets forth a claim on a note 
against 0-ka-chee for $60, and swears to its correctness ; yet it turns 
out to be a note against Burnet for only $40, with which O-ka-chee 
has no concern. 

In his testimony in this case, he made oath that he " sold some 
liquor to the Indians, and kept a separate account of it, which was 
paid by them in furs and money," see page 152 of Testimony ; yet 
in No .8 of Abstract A, is a charge of a "gallon" of wine, as 1 read 
it ; but it is pretty effectually blotted, and the word " flour" written 
evidently afterwards, for it is written on the ink line which extends 
the charge. 

I am thus particular in setting forth this whole matter, in order 
to show the grounds on which I have come to the conclusion to dis- 
credit all of Taylor's testimony where it is not corroborated by 
other evidence. 

It is due to Messrs. Ewing, Walker «Sz; Co. however, that I should 
state that I have no reason to believe that they sanctioned, or even 
knew of Taylor's conduct. It is their misfortune to have employed 
such an agent. 

My inquiry in this case is this, what part of this claim is sup- 
ported by other and additional evidence than Taylor ? 

I first take up Abstract A. 

On No. 8. The 2d charge, $4, has been altered from liquor to 
flour. 

The 3d charge, from one bottle at four shillings to two bottles at 
six shillings. 

The 4th charge was originally charged at bread eight shillings, 



61 

and carried out at il ; but the word "Pork" has afterwards been 
written on the line, and the carrying nut altered to $6. 

On these accounts I deduct $9,75 from this voucher. 

On No. 11. On the 7th line, a hat has been charged at #6, and al- 
tered to S8. 

Deduct $2 on this account. 

On No. 14. The 4th line has been carried out "To Pork $3,00 ;" 
but the words, " flour 16 shillings," afterwards written, and the carry- 
ins out altered to $5,00. 

On No. 21. The carrying out of the 2d line has been altered 
from $3 to $4,00. 

On No. 22. A charge for cash lent is now $7, but it has once 
been something else. What the alteration is I cannot say. The 
last charge of $16 makes the footing up $145, but (he note is only 
for $129,50, and no particular evidence to show the delivery of the 
item entered. 

Deduct $7 and $16=$23. 

On No. 24. There are two errors in addition, which require a 
deduction of $3,25. 

As a suitable explanation of the mode of " making papers" against 
Indians, I annex this voucher. That part which is underscored, 
(or in italics) was evidently written at one time, and the residue at 
a different time. 

Abstract B, Nos. 7, 8, and 11, are charges against We-wee-sah, 
Min-ter-min, Otaw-wah-qua, and Shau-quak-shuk ; the latter is the 
son of the 8d named, and is about 16 years old. These three items 
amount to $4335, and appear by the face of the papers to have been 
sold between the 25th Sept. and the 10th Dec. 1836. If to this is 
added what appears on schedule A as sold to the same persons in 
June and August 1836, viz : $994,75, it makes a total of $5329,75 
of goods retailed to them between the 14th June and the 10th Dec, 
or the space of six months. 

It will be observed, that I visited this band at their village in June 
1837. If I had found them numerous and well supplied, I should 
not have doubted their having made such large purchases. But I 
found them poor and degraded, and small in number — their village 
consisting of only three or four lodges. 

The persons charged, denied that they owed such a large sum. 
It is true that Indians are not apt to keep a correct account of their 
debts, nor are they always able to appreciate exactly what they do 
owe ; but the difference between their view of their account, — they 
stating it at $40 ; and Taylor's — he stating it at over $5000, is too 
great to be accounted for in any such manner. 

It will be observed that the Indians accused Taylor of having gi- 
ven away his employers' goods for his own purposes. 

When Taylor's own case was under examination, We-wiss-ah 
and Min-tor-min charged that he had obtained a $300 note of Shaw- 
quak.shuck and had not paid for it. He said he had paid it, and 
produced their receipt for it. At another time he said that he had 
not delivered all the goods for the note at one time, but at two dif. 
ferent times. 



62 

I showed the receipt to the three persons whose names are ap- 
pended to it. They denied hailing signed it, and said they had never 
received more tlian a barrel of flour upon it. 

The validity of the receipt resting entirely upon Taylor's testi- 
mony, I believe I have mentioned circumstances enough to compel 
me to disregard it. But there are other considerations. 

On the 1st of November 1836, he was directed to buy the note. 
His receipt for the price of it is dated the 7th November, but he 
produces no statement of the kind or quantity of goods delivered ; 
but he does produce a receipt dated the 8lh November, signed by the 
same persons for $627 worth of goods purporting to have been then 
delivered. 

It is impossible for me to say that the latter did not include the 
articles delivered on the former, but every reasonable presumption is 
that it did. 

There are other difficulties about these papers. The amounts for 
which the receipts No. 7 and No. 8 are given, are written on era- 
sures — the dates to Nos. 8 and 11 have been altered. The mime of 
O-taw-wah-qua to No. 8, and to the receipt for the -"1300 note, 
has evidently been written at the same time, though the papers 
bear date one on the 10th December, and the other on the 7th No- 
vember, and that name has been written at a different time from the 
other names to those papers. 

Under these circumstances I am clearly convinced that it is my 
duty to charge the claimants with the .$300 note, considering only 
one barrel of flour, or $12, as paid upon it. But it is not so clear 
to my mind what I ought to do in regard to Nos. 7, 8, and 11. 

Upon Taylor's testimony alone, I could not allow them. But it 
is proved that he had a trading-post near the village of these people, 
— that he was directed by his employers to trust them liberally, and 
that they did deal with him and buy on credit. 

Claimants have also shown their outfit to Taylor. From June 
1836 to May 1837, they delivered to him goods amounting to $7386, 
67, delivered at fifteen different times, and ranging in amount from 
$8,50 to $147-} at a time. Judge Polke, who was called as a wit- 
ness against the claim, says that Taylor has sometimes had as much 
as $2000 worth of goods at a time. 

The account of the outfit stands thus : 
Dr. Cr. 

Bills of goods, $7386,67 By cash and furs, $1233,63 

25 per cent profit, 1844,16 Sales to whites, (say) 250,00 

On hand, (say) 350,00 

$9220.83 Sold to Taylor, (say) 100,00 

8671,75 This claim for > 

Indian credits, \ 6738,12 

Leaving the sum of 549,08 



to be applied to expenses, «Ssc. $8671,75 

This is strongly corroborative of the claim. It shows that the 
allowance of these items does not depend solely upon Taylor's testi- 
mony — that the claimants have parted with their property — and if 
ther§ was any fraud, that they were not parties to it. 



63 

There is no allegation that Taylor embezzled the property, ex- 
cepting only the remark of Otaw-wah-qua, and that could not have 
been to a large amount. 

That We-wiss-ah's band did buy goods of Taylor on credit, is, as 
I have already said, proved by otfier evidence than his ; but the pre- 
cise amount of the purchase depends entirely upon his testimony. 
Some deduction must therefore be made from the claim. 

No remarks are particularly required as to the other numbers in 
this abstract, except on No. 14, which is a charge of 832,50 against 
Mis-in-a.go-qua, and which is probably one of the cases to which 
Otavvahqua alluded. 

If the account which Taylor gives of this outfit is correct, the 
claimants will realize a profit upon it of $1285,08, or a little over 18 
per cent. So far as the original outfit is concerned, that is corro- 
borated by other testimony besides Taylor's ; the extent of the pro- 
fit, and indeed the fact that there was any whatever, depends entire- 
ly upon his testimony. 

It will therefore be proper to return to the claimants their outfit, 
but not to allow them a profit, which rests solely upon Taylor's de- 
claration. 

The result would then be thus, 

Original outfit, $7386,67 

From which claimants have realized 

Cash and furs, 1233,63 

Sales to Whites, 250,00 

Had returned to them, 350,00 
Taylor had out of store 100,00 



1933,63 



Allowed, $5453,04 

DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING REPORT. 

Memorandum of my proceedings at Judge PolWs. 

Judge Polk gives me this relation of Taylor's conduct in one 
transaction. 

Taylor boarded at the Judge's while trading for the Ewings at 
Tippecanoe (No. 70.), and when the Indians wanted any thing of 
the Judge, (he not understanding the Indian language,) they 
would go to Taylor and get him to write it down for them. One 
day a squaw came to the Judge with a note, saying she wanted $1 
worth of salt : this was a month or more before the 21st or 22d of 
September last. The Judge afterwards asked him what squaw that 
was who had come for the salt. He said, he did not recollect, but 
he would fix it so that the Judge could get his pay. He then sat 
down, and wrote a name to the paper in these words : 

This woman wants you to let her have one dollar's worth of salt, 
and let her pay at the payment. 

her 
B. PoLKE, MIS-INxA-GO.QUA. 

Witness. mark. 

A. TaTI/OK;. 



The Judge asked him if that was the woman ? Taylor replied 
that he did not know, but it made no difference, for she had got 
things enough of the Judge to come to twice that. 

William Armstrong of Bethlehem, Clark County, Indiana, told 
the Judge that he was present when Abraham Burnet was giving 
his note to Taylor for tlie balance on the cloak, $40. Taylor said 
the note must be for $50. Burnet said it was hard to pay the $10 
that he did not owe, but he supposed he must do it. T. then sat 
down to write the note, and wrote it for 860. Burnet remonstrated, 
but T. said it would make no difference to him, as it was coming 
out of the general fund, and if he did not get it there, he would not 
collect the $20 of Burnet, and so B. signed. T. then wanted B. (o 
sign his mother-in-law's name to it. B. refused, saying he was not 
authorized to do so ; but T. said he would write her name, and B. 
must make her mark, and it was done. Mr. Armstrong was then 
requested by Taylor to witness the note, but he refused. 

Saturday, June 24th, 1837. 

Proceeded in company with Judge Polke, Pashpo, and Thomas 
Robb as interpreter, to the village of Men-tor-min, and there saw 
him, Otaw-wah-qua, and Shah-quack-shuck. I told them that 
Taylor said he had paid them in full for the $300 note which Shaw- 
qua-shuck had held against Douglas. 

They denied that he had done so : they said he had promised 
them a horse, saddle, and bridle, two or three barrels of flour, and 
two barrels of pork, and some other things ; and they had never 
got any thing but a barrel of flour. I showed them the receipt that 
Taylor said they had signed. They said they had never signed it. 

I told them that Taylor said they owed him about $1450 for 
other goods, for which he had their note. They denied it, and said 
they owed him about $40, and they did not think it right to have 
to pay for goods which he had given away to some of the squaws 
for purposes of his own. 

This is correctly stated. 

WM. POLKE. 

(Private.) 

Hudson, N. Y. July 12, 1837. 

Dear Sir, 

On my return home from your place, I spent one night at Judge 
Polk's, and received from him such an account of Taylor's conduct 
in his vicinity, as renders further testimony necessary. 

The Judge related to me one matter within his own observation, 
and also gave me the account which is mentioned in the enclosed 

letter. 

The story involves a charge against Taylor of forgery and false 
swearing, and is therefore very important. It may, however, be, 
that Mr. Armstrong will not confirm the account which 1 have re. 
ceived, and you will therefore see the propriety of your not men- 
tioning this subject at all until Mr. Armstrong's deposition be 
obtained. 

I transmit the enclosed for you to peruse, and then forward to 



\ 



65 

Mr. Armstrong in such a manner, and with such remarks from 
yourself, as will be calculated to procure his deposition. 

I submit the matter to your management, partly because I shall 
by the time this shall reach you, be at Green Bay ; and because I 
am confident you will spare no pains to have justice done at once to 
the Indians and to Mr. Taylor. 

If you obtain Mr. Armstrong's deposition, showing the truth of 
the story as related to me, I must request that you will transmit it 
to me at this place ; first, however, giving Mr. Taylor a copy of it 
(unless your doing so should interfere with the intention of insti. 
tuting legal proceedings against him) ; and at all events first giving 
to Messrs. Ewing, Walker & Co. a copy, so that they may know 
in what way the character of one of their witnesses is afl^ected, and 
may have an opportunity of explanation, &c. When you do this, 
you will please to do it in writing, and say that it is done by my 
direction. 

I will make no apology for troubling you in this matter ; but 
I must express my confident belief that you will conduct, what is 
in my view a delicate and important matter, with your accustomed 
energy and prudence. 

With my best respects to the citizens of your place, and most es. 
pecially to Mrs, T. 

I remain very sincerely yours 

Ever, 

J. W. EDMONDS. 
S. S. Tipton, Esq. 
Logansport, 
Indiana. 



Hudson, N. Y., July 12, 1837. 
Sir,— 

During my investigations, as the Commissioner under certain 
treaties made by the national government with the Potawatamie 
Indians of Indiana, Henry Taylor presented a claim, one item of 
which was $60 for a cloak sold to Abraham Burnet, and in sup. 
port of that charge he presented a note signed by Burnet and by 
his mother-in-law, 0-kee-chee. Taylor presented the claim as one 
against O-kee-chee for $60, and made oath that the note was cor- 
rect. 

After I had closed my business at Logansport, and while on my 
journey home, I spent one night at Judge Polk's in Rochester, and 
he gave me this relation of your knowledge of the transaction, viz : 
That on one occasion you was at Taylor's shantee near the 
Judge's, when Burnet came in, or was there ; and some conversa- 
tion took place between him and Taylor as to the cloak, from which 
it appears that Burnet had agreed to give 860 for the cloak, and 
had paid $20 on it, and was to |)ay $40 more, which he said he was 
unable to pay then. Taylor then insisied that Burnet should give 



66 

him a note for the balance, and for $10 in addition, because he had 
to wait for his money. After some reluctance, Burnet consented 
to thit--, and agreed to give his note for $50. Taylor then drew 
the note, but drew it for $60 : Burnet objected to sign it, because it 
was more than he owed ; but Taylor represented that if B. would 
sign the note, it would enable him, Taylor, to get the whole sum, at 
the payment of the general fund belonging to the Indians ; that it 
would not hurt Burnet, but would benefit Taylor; and he called upon 
you, and others that were present, to witness his promise that he 
would not collect of Burnet any more than $40, even if he did give 
the note for $60. 

Taylor then told Burnet to sign his mother-in-law's name to the 
note, but B. delined because she was not there. T. said that would 
make no difference. B. then declined, because she had not autho- 
rised him to sign for her, but Taylor insisted upon it, and finally him. 
self wrote 0-ke-chee's name to the note ; and either he or Burnet 
made the mark. During all this time O-ke-chee was not present, 
but you was ; and Taylor requested you to witness the note with 
your signature, which you refused. 

1 am thus particular in stating the facts as related to me by 
Judge Polke, because all of them are highly important and neces- 
sary in enabling me to discharge properly my duty toward Govern- 
ment and the Indians. 

I 'did not summon you before me as a witness to attend at Lo- 
gansport, because I was not aware of the importance of your evi- 
dence until after I left that place ; nor did I stop in my journey to do 
so, because Judge Polke assured me I should have no difficulty in pro- 
curing your evidence on application to you. 

I therefore request you to make your deposition before some ma- 
gistrate in your vicinity, setting forth the facts within your know- 
ledge, with sill the particularity which you can, and transmit the 
same to S. S. Tipton, Esq., (son of Senator Tipton,) at Logans- 
port, who will transmit it to me. Mr. Tipton acted as one ol the 
Counsel for the Indians, and 1 shall forward this letter to you 
through him. I am. Sir, 

Very respectfully, 

Your obed't serv't, 

J. W. EDWARDS, 

To U. S. Commissioner. 

Wm. Armstrong, Esq.. 
Bethlehem, 

Clark County, 
Indiana. 



NOTICE. 

lie Indians, 
ads. 



The Potawatamie Indians, i p^^^^^ ^^^^.^^ 



1 Abraham Adams. 



Henry Taylor. 
The Plaintiff, Henry Taylor, in the above cause, or his attorney, 



67 

will take notice that we, as the attornies for the defendants in the 
above cause, will, on the 16th day of September, 1837, proceed to 
take the deposition of William G. Armstrong, a resident of Clark 
County, Indiana, before Abraham Adams, an acting Justice of the 
Peace in the County of Clark and State of Indiana, at his office in 
said County at ten o'clock A. M. on said day ; and continue from 
day to day, until the same shall be completed, to be read in evidence 
in tho final adjustment of the claim of the said plaintiff against the 
said defendants, before the Secretary of War, or any other officer 
that may be appointed by the Government of the United States 
for that purpose at the City of Washington, or elsewhere, wherever 
said officer shall investigate said matter, when and where you may 
attend. 

CHASE, STEWART «St TIPTON, 

Attornies for Indians. 
Logansport, 25th August, 1837. 

Returned, served on the within-named plaintiff, Henry Taylor, by 
reading. 

JAMES HORNEY, 

Sheriff, C. C. 
August 25, 1837. 



DEPOSITION OF WM. G. ARMSTRONG. 

The Potawatamie Nation of Indians, 
adsm. 
Henry Taylor. 

In compliance with a notice given by the Attornies of the Po- 
tawatamie Indians to Henry Taylor, which is dated at Logansport, 
25th August, 1837, and appears to have been served on said Taylor 
bv James Horney, Sheriff ot Cass County, on same day, I have 
caused to be brought before me the witness therein referred to, who 
being duly sworn, deposeth as follows. 

Question by the Justice of the Peace : — 

Have you any knowledge of any trading, or settlement of trading 
transactions, between Henry Taylor and the Potawatamie Nation 
of Indians, in the State of Indiana ? 

Answer by witness : — 

I have. In the early part of May last I was in the store kept 
by Henry Taylor (for Ewing, Walker & Co., as I understood,) on 
the southern bank of Tippecanoe River, when an Indian was ob- 
served riding towards the store, who, Mr. Taylor said, was Abraham 
Burnet ; that he was glad to see him come in before the payment ; 
that Burnet owed him, and he would make him give him a note for 
the debt. Taylor immediately went to the desk and wrote. After 
Burnet had been in the store a short time, Taylor told him there 
was a note on the desk he wanted him to sign. Burnet took it up, 
and after examining it, told Taylor it was not right ; that the cloak 



68 

he bought Wi.s only sixty dollars, as well as the recollection of 
witness serves him ; and that he had paid twenty dollars on it ; to 
which Taylor assented, but said that Burnet was to have paid 
the balance before that time, and he must have something for wait- 
ing. Burnet objected, and said it called for more than he owed. 
Taylor replied, it was no odds to him (B.), he would not have it to 
pay ; that it would be taken out of the big pile of money at the 
payment. Burnet objected, and said if it was not taken out of the 
big pile at the payment, he would have to pay more than he owed : 
Taylor insisted it would make no difference to Burnet, as it would 
not come off of him : that there was no doubt but it would be paid 
out of the big pile. Burnet said, if it made no difference to him 
he did not care — and signed the note : upon which Taylor told him 
to put his mother-in-law's name to the note : Burnet objected, say- 
ing they might play the devil with him if he put her name to it 
without her authority. Taylor said ihcy could not hurt him — he 
only wanted her name to show what village he (Burnet) belonged 
to, and showing Burnet where to sign, Burnet wrote the name ; 
Taylor pointing, told him to write her mark at the end of the name, 
which he did ; then told him to make a mark or a cross, which he 
did also. 

Taylor asked this deponent to witness the note, which he declined 
doing. During the whole of this transaction there was no Indian 
present except Burnet. Deponent was present during the whole 
time Burnet staid at the store. The note was left on the desk until 
Burnet went away. Taylor inquired whether deponent would re- 
main in that country until after the payment, and asked him to 
witness the note : deponent took up the note and examined it, and 
asked Taylor if that was the way the Indian trading was usually 
managed. Taylor replied "that was the way ; unless you charged 
Indians at least two prices, you could not hold your own." Depo. 
nent remonstrated against the course pursued to induce Burnet to 
give his note for more than he owed. Taylor said the Indian trade 
was a disagreeable business, and they had to resort to all sorts of 
means to gel their claims arranged so as to pass investigation. De- 
ponent inquired why he dated the note at a different time from that 
at which it was given. Taylor replied, that was the date he got the 
goods ; deponent does not recollect any thing further, which he sup- 
poses material, being said, but noticed the date would apply to the 
coming, instead oi i{\c 'preceding fall; and farther saith not. 

WM. G. ARMSTRONG. 
Sworn to and subscribed before me, the undersigned, an acting Jus- 
tice of the Peace in and for the County of Clark and State of 
Indiana, and taken at my office in Bethlehem Township, this 16th 
day of September, 1837, to be read in evidence in the final ad. 
justment of the claim of said Plaintiffs against the Potavvatamie 
Indians, before the Secretary of War, or where, or whensoever 
said matter may be investigated by an Officer of the United 
States. 

Given under my hand and seal 

this day and date above written. A. R. ADAMS, J. P. 



69 

BOUGHT OF EWING, WALKER & CO. 

Ifine clofh blanket, $8, 1 do. cloth blanket $8, 
To Pork 10s,Jlour S2s, 1 large shawl 16s, 
1 pair fine red stockings As. tojlour, 
1 pair fine walking shoes Itis, 2 fine ehirts 16s, 

1 large tin bucket 8s, 10 lbs. sugar 'Zs, 
Ifine cloth blanket $10, lU3n lbs. fiour at $7, 
Ifine cloth blanket $8, 100 silver earbobs $5, 
4 large silver broachts at 16s, 
Ifine shawl at \6s, 5 lbs. sugar 8s, soap 85, 

2 fine shirts at 16s, 5 lbs. sugar 8s, 
Ifine cloth blanket $6, sugar 8s, 
To flour 16s, 1 fine shawl at 16s, 
1 fine large tin bucket 8s, flour 40s, 

1 fine cloth blanket at $10, 100 lbs. flour $5, 
6 large silver broaches at 16s, 

2 large fine silver wheels at 16s, 

3 fine fancy shirts at 16s, 
3 fine shirts at I63, 
1 pair fine saddle-bags at 48s, 

3 fine shirts at 16s, 
1 fine shirt 16s, 2 pair superfine gloves $3, 

4 fine white shirts at 16s, 
4 fine shirts 16s. 1 fine cloth blanket $8, 

$194 00 

This is so in the -^"^ Ewing, Walker df Co. for the above goods, 

original— the words three hundred nineteen 

erasr:a appear to be , j, /• , • i /• .t 

''for value received." dollars, jor vulue rcceived oj them. 

her 
0-tow X Wah-quah. 
Tippecanoe, June 23, 1836. mark. 

Witness, 
Henry Taylor. 

Amount brought over, $194 00 

1 fine cloth blanket at $8, 4 fine shirts at 16.s, 16 00 

2 pair fine beaver gloves at I63, 4 00 
2 fine large black silk handkerchiefs at 16s, 4 00 
2 fine large worsted shawls at 24s, 6 00 
2 pair fine gloves at 16s, 4 00 

1 fine cloth blanket, at $8, 8 00 
4 fine chintz shirts at 16s, 8 00 

2 fine cloth blankets at $10, 20 00 

1 pair fine squaw leggins at 32s, 4 00 
Flour 32s, pork 40s, 9 00 
4 superfine large shawls at 403, 20 00 

2 fine white shirts at 16s, 4 00 
To flour $8, pork $7, 15 00 
1 fine large silk handkerchief at 243, 3 00 

$319 00 



$16 


00 


7 


25 


8 


00 


8 


25 


3 


50 


17 


00 


13 


00 


8 


00 


4 


00 


5 


00 


7 


00 


4 


00 


6 


00 


15 


00 


12 


00 


4 


00 


6 


00 


6 


00 


6 


00 


6 


00 


6 


GO 


8 


00 


18 


00 



70 



No. 71. 
RUFUS HITCHCOCK, $442,68 

This claim is for merchandize and goods sold, is sufficiently- 
proved with the exception of $10 for casii lent, of which there is 
r.o proof. His selling goods to the Indians is proved by two wit- 
nesses, but his lending money to them is not proved. 

Claim $442,68 

Deduct the cash lent 10,00 

There must also be a deduction for an item in 
January, 1835, claimant having signed the Regis- 
ter in August of that year, by which he released 
all their prior claims, $19,83 

29.83 



Allowed, $402,85 



No. 72. 

HYACINTH LACELLE, $7,996,00 

This claim is presented in this general form, 

" 1797 To amount of my claim against said (Potawatamie) 

to nation of Indians laid before the Commissioners, 

" 1810. &c. $11,996,00 

♦' Cr. by cash received at Treaty of 1832, 4,000 

« Bal. due, $7,996,00 

The claim is not otherwise particularized, and is supported by 
the affidavits of himself and three of his clerks ; from which it ap- 
pears that in 1794 claimant " came to the Indian country to trade 
with the Miami and Potawatamie Indians ;" that in 1797 he 
moved to the Wabash country to trade on his own account, and 
continued so until 1810, when he found himself $15,000 in debt ; 
and he attributes his losses partly to debts owing him by the In- 
dians still uncollected, and partly to depredations committed by 
them. 

He says his books are lost, and Gen. Tipton certifies, that at the 
Treaty of 1832 the books were before the Commissioners, but 
cannot now be found. 

Upon this evidence, this claim is reposed. 

The fact that the claimant is a respectable citizen of great per- 
sonal worth and character, while it may induce a favorable consi- 
deration of his claim, and produce regrets at his want of success, 
cannot supply deficiencies in the testimony. 

It will be seen that the claim is from 27 to 40 years old, and 
much of it must have been contracted before some of the parties to 
these treaties were able to run in debt, and even before some of 
them were born. 



71 

The claim is against the Potawatamie nation generally. The 
particular Indians indebted are not named ; and it is not possible to 
determine whether they are those, or the ancestors of those, who 
now reside along the Wabash, or those who are connected with the 
Chicago Agency, and who provided for the payment of their debts 
by the treaty of Chicago, or those who are west of the Mississippi, 
or those who have amalgamated themselves with northern tribes. 

It appears, also, that the trade was with the Miamis and Potawata- 
mies ; and it is not said how much is owing to each tribe, or whether 
the Miamis have ever made, or refused to make, any provision for 
the payment of their part. 

The whole loss in the trade with both tribes is stated at $15,000, 
and it appears that the Potawatamies have already paid claimant 
as follows : 

By the treaty of 1826, 

Two sections of land, which he yet owns, and which 
are estimated to be worth S15,000, but which are 
charged at government price, or $1,25 per acre, $1600,00 

By the treaty of 1832, 

In cash, 4000,00 

Three sections of land in the name of an Indian, 

which he sold for $3000,00 



Making a total of $8600,00 

or more than half the whole loss stated. 

For the balance of the loss, viz. $6400, he ought to present a 
claim against the Miamis, if against any one. 

The correctness of this view is strengthened by the fact, that aU 
though living in the immediate vicinity of the Wabash Potawata- 
mies, the claimant has omitted to avail himself of the opportunities 
for a settlement directly with the Indians, which have been pre- 
sented at the payment of their annuities; particularly in 1835, 
when the Chiefs in public council liquidated all the debts they knew 
of, and in 1836, when the claims against them were settled by the 
Commissioners. 

The claim is disallowed. 



No. 73. 
LATHROP M. TAYLOR, $1539,24 

Claimant produces and proves his books of original entries, and 
the delivery of the various articles of merchandize sold. 

But upon examing the books, in the presence of claimant and the 
Chiefs, it appears that only $159,91 is properly chargeable to these 
Indians, the balance being against the Potawatamies of the Chicago 
or St. Joseph Agency. 

Allowed, $159,91 



72 



No. 74. 
GEORGE T. BOSTWICK, $2193,01 

This claim is entered by my secretary for the above sum, but 
that is the debit side. The balance actually claimed is only $789,38. 
Claimant, however, produces all his accounts for examination, as 
well those before the Register of August, 1835, (which he signed) 
as those of a later period. 

From that examination it appears that I must make the following 
deductions : — 

Voucher No. 55, for $20, is against a Miami who has paid 
$3,50. Deduct, 
No. 56. — Is not a Potawatamie, 
No. 60. — Is not a Chippewa, 
No. 58. — Is withdrawn, 
No. 26. Do. 

No. 57. — The notes against Wm. B. Burnet, whom the 
Chiefs deny to belong to the nation, 

$241 08 

There are sundry small notes produced in support of the claim 
up to August, 1835, of which no proof is adduced. But as that 
Register was a final settlement between the Indians and those tra- 
ders who were parties to it, and is frequently, in my opinions, con- 
sidered as a bar to any claim of those traders prior to that date ; 
so, on the other hand, it is equally conclusive and final for the tra- 
ders against the Indians, that the latter owed so much money as is 
there set down. Fraud and mistakes are, however, properly to be 
considered as not barred thereby ; but the whole matter is still open 
so far as it may be necessary to redress the former or correct the 
latter. 

Applying these principles to this case, they render the foregoing 
deductions from the claim necessary, because they evidently are 
mistakes ; and they render any farther proof of the notes in ques- 
tion unnecessary, because they were acknowledged then as proper 
debts. 

Claim in fact, $789 38 

Deductions as above, 241 08 



$16 


50 


5 


25 


155 


:-i3 


43 


00 


10 


00 


21 


00 



Allowed, $548 30 



No. 75. 

JOHN R. HINTON, $31 

This claim consists of only 3 or 4 items : — 
1st. For a martingale $1, which the Indian says he paid for once, 
but which he pays again in my presence. 

2d. A charge of $2 for horse-keeping, which is proved. 



73 

3d. A charge of $12 for keeping a horse 12 weeks, but it is proved 
that he admitted he kept him only 3 weeks, and for that he has re- 
ceived $6,00, which is enough. 

4th. A charge of $22 for keeping a horse 11 weeks, but it is 
proved that he kept the horse 10 weeks, and agreed to charge only 
$1 a week instead of $2, as he now brings it in. 
Allow him, therefore, 

The 2d item, 82 00 

On the 4th item, 10 00 



$12 00 



No. 76. 
WILLIAM REPOSE'S ESTATE. $837,55 

This is a claim for bread deliver^id to the Indians by Repose, who 
was a baker at Logansport ; delivered during the Agency of Gen. 
Marshall, on his orders, and those of his sub-agent, secretary and 
interpreters. 

The orders are produced, and those which on their face purport 
to be in favor of the Potawatamies, amount to $427,06, at the price 
of 2s. a loaf. 

Some of the orders are in favour of the Mia mis. All those drawn 
by P. Langlois are of that character. 

Many of them do not specify for which tribe they are drawn ; 
but the testimony shows that most of the orders drawn were in fa- 
vor of the Potawatamies. It is therefore fair to suppose that half 
of the residue was for them. 

The claim would then present itself in this shape, 

1. Orders in favor of Potawatamies, as above, $427,06 

2. Half of residue, (excluding the Miamis,) 242,29 



Total of claim, $669,35 

It appears, however, that in 1836 the adm. re- 
ceived on this claim, $75,00 
And in 1835, 50,00 



$125,00 



This sum of $544,35 

is all that can now be due. 

But, against even this much, it is averred and proved, 

1. That Repose was a very poor man, and it is not at all proba- 
ble that he would pass by the payments for three years in succes- 
sion without getting his pay, or something on it. Yet there is no 
credit for the years 1832, 1833, and 1834 ; during which time the 
debt accrued. 

Repose died in 1835. 

2. Gen. Marshall was in the habit of buying flour, and having it 

K 



74 

delivered to Repose to bake for the Indians. How much of the 
bread delivered was in this account, it is impossible to determine. 

3. Gen. M. in the fall of 1834, refused to pay him any more mo- 
ney on this account ; averring that he had already overpaid him. 

4. In the year 1834, the General received from the Indians 
88000 to pay their debts ; and in the distribution of that money 
Repose was paid something ; but how much, cannot now be deter- 
mined. By referring to the papers in case No. 45, it will be seen that 
there is no account of any moneys being paid to Repose ; but there 
is an account of several sums going into Gen. M's. own hands ; and 
whether he paid any of it to Repose, 1 have not ascertained. 

5. Gen. Grover, sub-agent, was also in the habit of furnishing flour 
to Repose to bake into bread for the Indians; and he furnishes a 
memorandum thereof, amounting to $142,50. 

6. Gen. M. kept an open account with Repose, and made him 
frequent payments, of none of which have we any account ; either 
by Repose or from Gen. M. 

7. Many of the orders were given for the Indians during the Sac 
war ; and for that an appropriation was made by Congress of $2000 
or $3000. 

8. Repose's books are not produced, showing the exact state of 
the accounts, if he kept any ; but the evidence rests mainly on 
orders produced ; and, for aught that I know, his books may show 
payments to him balancing the account. 

9. The claim of this estate was presented last year at $175, in 
the following words : " In the years lb30, 1831, 1832 and 1833, to 
bread and provisions furnished ; a part of which demand was re- 
ceived and allowed at the payment of 1835 ; balance justly due the 
said estate, $175." On this, $75 was then paid, leaving a 
*' balance justly due " now of only $100 ; yet it is now presented for 

$0o7,00. 

I cannot arrive at any result with certainty ; but the presump- 
tion of payment is so strong, that I cannot feel justified in allowing 
any thing. 

Since the foregoing was written, I have found, among the papers 
of 1835, a certificate of Gen. Marshall, dated in Dec. 1833, that 
the Potawatamies owed Repose $50 for provisions furnished them 
the year 1832. Upon tracing the paper up, I find that it was pre- 
sented in August 1835, in connexion with some other claims, and 
allowed under another name ; and paid to the present representa- 
tive of the estate, who signed the Register of August 1835; and 
thereby discharged the Indians in full from any farther claim of 
the estate- 

The claim is disallowed. 



No. 77. 

DOMINIQUE ROSSAU, $1508,76 

This claim is for merchandize, and claimant gives credits as fol- 
lows : — 



75 

. Received at payment ground, $66,00 

1836 do do 297,00 

By sundry credits, 37,51 

And for the balance, $1108,25, he presents a note signed by seve- 
ral Indians ; but this balance is not correctly stated. The sundry 
credits and items in his claim not proved, reduced the claim to 
$1055,64. Besides that, he signed the Register of August 1835, 
by which he gave the Indians a receipt in full up to that date ; yet 
his present claim presents items amounting to $170,82, contracted 
before that period. 

The case will stand thus, 

Claim, $1508,76 

Deduct 

Items not proved, and sundry credits, $453,12 

Contracted prior to August, 1835, 170,82 

Amount received in 1836, 297,00 



920,94 



Amount allowed, $587,82 



No. 78. 

TODD & VIGUS, $415,00 

The bare inspection of this claim shows that it is not against the 
Indians, but against the late Agent, Gen. Wm. Marshall. It has 
grown out of dealings with him as an Officer of Government, and 
the Indians have nothing to do with it. 

Disallowed. 



No. 79. 

MESS-SAW, $55,00 

This woman lent the Chief, Iowa, $55, which he admits is still due 
to her. 

Allowed, $55,00 



No. 80. 
ETIENNE BENNAC, $1849,75 

Claimant is an Indian and a trader ; is unable to read or write, 
and employs others to make out his claim. He presents a note for 
$2560, which it is proved is for an amount then investigated by a 
competent man, and explained to the Indians. That Bennac pur- 
chased goods, and trusted them out to the Indians, is also proved. 



7^6 

The other items in the claim are also proved, except a charge of 
$500 for cash stolen at the payment ground in 1834. Of this there 
is no evidence ; and if there was, the claim for it would be barred 
by the fact that Bennac signed the Register of 1835. 

Two charges, of $80 and $100, are for money which Che-cha- 
kose and Ashkum got to pay their expenses of going to Washington 
to make the treaty of February 1837. By that treaty, Government 
stipulates to pay the expenses of that delegation. These items 
are therefore not chargeable to the Indians. 

Claim, $1849,75 

Deduct money stolen, 500,00 

Do. lent to Ashkum, &c. 180,00 

680,00 



Allowed, $1169,75 



No. 81. 

BENJAMIN HURST, $290,00 

Thirty days services as chain bearer in a survey at $2 per day 
are sufficiently proved, but there is no proof to support the residue. 
It is, therefore, allowed at $60,00 



No. 82. 

ALEXANDER CHAMBERLIN. $300,00 

This claim is for " hogs and sheep killed and taken by ' the Pota- 
watamie Indians of the Wabash,' from 1827 to 1835, inclusive." 
Independent of defects in the testimony to support the charge, clai- 
mant is entirely precluded, by having, in August 1835, received $110 
of these Indians, and given them a discharge in full up to that time. 

Disallowed. 



No. 83. 
ESTATE OF RICHARD CHABERT, $950,00 

In support of this claim, a note is produced, purporting to be 
signed by some of the Chiefs of the Potawatamies. Upon being in- 
terrogated, they deny ever having given the note, or having ever 
owed Chabert any thing. Upon investigation, it appears that in 
1833 Chabert had a note of some kind against some Indians, 
which was delivered to Gen. Marshall to have him get it allowed 
in a treaty he was about making with the Miamis ; and the note 
now produced " was made from recollection, signatures and all." 

It appears, also, that even the original was for $850 or $950 ; they 



77 

cannot tell which ; and was- " made out from nothing at all" — •" from 
no items, but in general terms." 
This is all the evidence in the ^case. 

Of course it must be disallowed. 



No. 84. 
JOSEPH TRUCKEY, $250,00 

By the Register of 1835, a debt of S490 was admitted as due this 
claimant. He, that year, received $122,50 upon it, and in 1836 
he received of Messrs. Ewing & Taber $183, and of the five Com- 
missioners $100 ; leaving due to him on that account only $84,50. 

The next item of his claim, $60, for provisions in 1834, is of 
course precluded by the allowance to him in *1835, and his dis- 
charging the Indians from all debts up to that time. 

The charge of $10 for a coffin, has already been allowed to Mar- 
tin, who made it. 

There is no other evidence in favor of the $84,50 than the Re- 
gister of 1835, but upon the principle which I have adopted of con- 
sidering that paper as concluding both parties, that sum ought 
with the same justice to be allowed as the sum of $60 to be disal- 
lowed. 

Allowed at $84,50 



No. 85. 

JAMES BLACKBURN, 41,00 

Iowa and M-jo-quis admit that they owe these notes, which were 
given for ploughing their fields. 

Allowed, 41,00 



No. 86. 
JOHN B. JUTROIS, $4700 

See Report on No. 16. 



No. 87. 

JACOB SMITH, $613,75 

This claim is presented in the shape of two notes signed by some 
Indians, and is an apt illustration of the facility with which their 
signature to a note can be procured. The subscribing witness 
says, " He saw the notes executed ; no accounts were produced ; 



79 

but Smith told the Indians how much they owed him, and they 
signed the notes. He mentioned some of the articles, — flour, and 
for cultivating fields for Minoquet, who is dead." 

A note given under such circimistances cannot afford satisfactory 
evidence of an indebtedness to the amount mentioned in it. Other 
evidence must be given. 

In this case the additional evidence substantiates the following 
items only : — 

Cultivating for IVIinoquet in 1835, $50 00 

Do. for same and Pessis, 65 00 

Small claim proved by McCartney, 13 75 

Goods for treaty purposes in Dec, 1834, 88 20 



210 95 

Deduct payment in 1836, 75 00 



Allowed, $141 95 



No. 88. 

I-O-WA, $103,25 

This is a claim for various small articles which the Chief, I-o-wa, 

sold to the Indians. Each Indian charged admits the indebtedness, 

and upon consulting the Chiefs generally, they say it ought to be 

paid — that I-o-wa is not a regular trader to bring in false accounts. 

Claim, $103 25 

Deduct for error in stating the account, 9 50 



Allowed, $93 75 



No. 89. 

WILLIAM BARBER, $101,98 

This claim is proved by one who saw the notes executed and 
the goods delivered. 

Several of the claims are against Indians not belonging to these 
bands. 

Claim, $101 98 

Deduct. The int. charged, $13,60 

Claims against foreign Indians, 87.25 



50 85 



Allowed, $51 13 



No. 90. 
PO-KA-GUN, $60 

This Indian says he had a horse stolen from him, but he offers no 
proof, and none of the Indians seem to know any thing about it. 
It is disallowed. 



79 

No. 91. 
NAH-WAH-KAISE, $177,00 

This Indian charges a squaw, whom he kept as his mistress, with 
stealing from him two horses, seven cloth blankets, some earboba, 
&c. She and the Chiefs tell this story about it. 

That the horses strayed away, and were not stolen. 

That she did steal the cloth blankets, and 

That he gave her the other things ; and when she left him, she 
would not give them up to him. 

It will be fair to allow him for the blankets, $35,00 



No. 92. 

WEE-SAW, $150,00 

All the Chiefs admit that this is right, being for a horse killed in 
1836. 

Allowed, $150,00 



No. 93. 

FRANCIS CLERMONT, $50,00 

This is for a horse stolen by an Indian not belonging to these 
bands. Disallowed. 



• No. 94. 

JACOB KEYKENDALL, $150,00 

This is a claim for a horse stolen. There is no evidence that the 
thief belongs to these bands, and the Indians have once refused to 
allow it. If a just claim, it can best be obtained in the form of a 
depredation claim under the act of Congres.-,. 

nisdilowed. 



No. 95. 

G. N. FITCH, $99,00 

No. 96. 

FITCH & FARQUHAR, 36,51 

It frequently happens in the investigation of claims, that the par. 
ties make a statement themselves, and expect me to give full force 
to it, although made decidedly in their own favor, and unsupported 
by other evidence. They forget that my duty, as a public officer, 



80 

requires me to decide according to the evidence produced, and that 
their declarations or assertions are not evidence in their favor ; that 
I have no right to give weight to their statements, however exalted 
may be my personal opinion of their integrity. These cases are of 
this character. 

Dr. Fitch, whose character stands high, both professionally and 
as a citizen, says that he last year presented claims of himself, of 
F. Filch, and of Fitch & Farquhar, amounting to about $495, on 
which he received $250 ; and that he gave credit on No. 95 for 
$ 101, and on No. 96 for $37,24 i which would leave the claim of F. 
Fitch to be about $222, and $111,76 to be applied upon it. 

Upon recurring to the report of the Commissioners of 1836, and 
the claims presented to them, it appears that the claims of F. Fitch, 
then presented, was $49,00 ; and even that was not properly charg- 
able to the Indians, because it was for services rendered to the Indian 
wife of a white man, and he ought to pay. It appears, also, that the 
claim of G. N. Fitch was $232,50, and $53,25 was properly charg- 
able to the same white man. 

The claim would therefore, in September 1836, be as follows : 

Fitch & Farquhar, $73,75 

G. N. Fitch, 179,25 



253,00 
At that time was paid 250,00 



Leaving a balance of $3,00 

As none of the charges in the present claim are for servics ren- 
dered since Sept. 1836, the above sum is all that would be properly 
owing by the Indians. This is a legitimate deduction from the evi- 
dence before me. If that evidence does not give me a correct view 
of the case, it is a misfortune to the claimants which I cannot pre- 
vent. But I am confirmed in my view by*the fact, that the above 
balance, together with the sum which is still due from the white 
man to whom I have referred, will not be far from the amount 



claimed. 



Allowed, $3,00 



No. 97. 

PIRRRE ANDRE, $926,00 

This claim is entirely unsupported by evidence, is 33 years old, 
and consists of $726 of interest. Yet he received $200 upon it 
last year. 

It is disallowed. 



No. 98. 
WM. R. DAVIS, $71,50 

This claim is proved, and admitted as follows : 



81 

Claim of last year, $90,25 

November, 1836, pistol-lock to Wabousie, 3,00 



93,25 
Deduct amount paid last year, 50,00 



Bal. due, $43,25 

The rifle sold to Joseph Barron for $35 cannot be allowed as a 
claim against the Indians. 



No. 99. 

ROBERT BURNET, $40,00 

The Chief, Iowa, admits this indebtedness, being the balance due 
on a horse he bought. 

Allowed at $40,00 



No. 100. 

WILLIAM S. VAIL, $143,50 

Tills claim is for goods sold as follows : 

To Pash-po, 38,00 

To John C. Burnet, an Indian (a balance,) 22,25 

To Joseph Barron, 105,50 



$165,75 
It is all proved, and ought all to be allowed, except the goods 
sold to Barron, 

Allowed, $60,25 



No. 101. 



JOHN DODD, $45,25 

This account, which purports to be for flour, bread, and bacon, 
is not supported by original entries, nor are the whole particulars 
furnished, or the absence of them accounted for. Where the parti- 
culkrs are furnished, they contradict the claim as presented. Thus, 
Barron's orders, which are charged at $96, amount only to $34,75 ; 
thus calling for a deduction larger than the whole balance claimed. 

The claim is, on this account. 

Disallowed. 



82 



No. 102. 
STURGESS & BRACKETT, $40,50 



This accouut for medical services is proved or admitted. 

Allowed. 



No. 103. 
PETER OGAN, $176,25 

There is no evidence to support this cldim, other than the fact 
claimant had some goods on hand, and Indians were seen trading 
with him. But wliat Indians, and how muci; they traded, and 
whether for cash or on credit, is not shown. 

The facts proved, are not sufficient to justify an allowance. 

Disallowed. 



No. 104. 
RICHARD HELVEY, $153,00 

The sale of the flour and beef, charged at $30,00, is sufficiently 
proved, and must be allowed. 

But the claimant has mistaken his remedy for the hogs which he 
alleges the Indians have killed and stolen. The act of 1834 affords 
so complete a remedy for such depredations, that it is better for all 
concerned to resort to it than come before me. 

The other item in this claim is not proved. 

Allowed, $30,00 



No. 105. 

EDWARD McCartney. $2024,25 

From the papers in this case, it appears that at the making of 
the treaties of 1832 by Messrs. Jennings, Davis, and Crume, Mc- 
Cartney was a claimant for $4000 ; that by one of those treaties he 
was allowed a debt claim of $1000 ; and by another, two sections 
of land to his Indian wife ; amounting, at government price, to 
$2400. Whether he received any, and if any, what payments in 
1833 and 1834, does not appear. But it does appear that at the 
settlement in August 1835, he presented a claim for $1000, which 
was allowed to him, and he received upon it $350 at that time, and 
^325 of Messrs. Ewing and Taber in 1830, and $73 of the five 
Commissioners that year. And by another claim entered on the 
Register of 1835, he received that year another sum of $350. 



83 

His claim and payments wcuM then be truly stated thus, if we 

go back to 1832. Claim in 1832, ^*??2*22 

Sundries since, 274,25 

4274,25 

Deduct Payments in "i 832, $3400 

in 1835, 700 

in 1836, 398 

$4498,00 



Showing that he was overpaid $223,75 

Claimant's name, however, appears twice on the Register of 1835 ; 
once as a creditor for 81000, ami once for $4000 ; on each of which 
sums he received tlien $350. The Chiefs, in their letter to the Pre- 
sident, of October 1836, complain that the latter sum, and two 
others, amounting in the aggregate to $7126,00, were put on to that 
re-^ister improperlv, and without their sanction. Upon investiga- 
tional, this allegation appears to be correct. Those sums were en- 
tered after the council broke up, and cannot therefore be consider- 
ed as admitted by the Indians, or as entitled to the same sanction 
that is properly given to the claims which were liquidated in open 

council. 

Again ; the claim now presented to me, says that the amount due 
in 1835 was $3000 ; whereas, if that Register was true, it was 
$5000. The residue of the claim is for indebtedness accruing prior 
to 1835, and is cut off by claimant's having signed a receipt in 
full, in August 1835, for every thing except the sums named on the 

The proper mode of stating the claim, as shown by the papers 
before me, would be tlius : — 

Claim allowed in 1835, $1000,00 

Paid him in 1835, ^^00 

in 1836, 398 

1098,00 



Showing a balance due the Indians of, $98,00 



No. 106. 
HENRY BARNETT, $40,50 

This claim is for labor done for the Indians in cultivating their 

fields, is admitted by them, and is 

Allowed. 



No. 107. 
COMPARET & SCOTT, $3347,92 

Monei- H. Scott, the active i.icmlici of liiirt tirm, ^-resented a 



84 



claim in 1835, which was allowed at $1214. He then receired 
$814 on that claim, and in 1836 he received of Messrs. Ewing & 
Taber $200, and of the 5 Commissioners $1500. 

The account which he now presents, runs back prior to 1835, 
and amounts, as above, to $3347,93, without making any credit for 
those payments. 

The following will be a proper statement of the claim as proved. 
Allowance of 1835, $1214 00 

Goods delivered in 1834, by order of Gen. Marshall, 
for treaty purposes, and not included in settlement 
of 1835, 1172,00 

Items delivered since 1835, as proved, 278 17 



Deduct the payment in 1835, $814,00 

Do. Do. in 1836, 1700,00 



$2664,17 
2514,00 



Bal. allowed, $150,17 

N. B. This great deduction from the apparent amount claimed, 
arises from two causes. 1st, from allowing the payments as above ; 
and 2d, from my error in stating the amount claimed on my regis'- 
ter, whereby a part of the items allowed in 1835 were put in a 
second time. 



No. 108. 
LOUIS DROUILLARD, $16,00 

This claim, for sundry articles . of clothing, is admitted by the 
Indian, and 

Allowed. 



No. 109. 
H. B. M'KEAN, $4000,00 

This claim is supported only by a certificate of three persons, 
that in 1817, '18, '19, and '20, claimant dealt with the Ottawa and 
Potawatamie nations of Indians. No particulars are given, nor are 
there any means of determining whether these bands were indebted 
or not. 

This is one of the cases complained of by the Indians as having 
been improperly put on to the Register of 1835. 

Disallowed. 



No. 110. 

WM. CANNON, $50,00 

This is a claim for depredations, and must be referred for settle- 
fnent to the act of 1834. 

Disallowed. 



85 

' No. 111. 

JOHN PLASTER, $12,75 

This bill is for sundries furnished to Joseph Morrisau or More- 
land, whom the Chiefs deny to belong to their bands. 
It is therefore disallowed. 



No. 112. 

CANDLER & MUDGE, fl84,50 

This bill is for goods delivered during my investigations. I en- 
deavoured to discourage the creation of any such debts, because I 
anticipated the fund would fall short of the debts ; but the indebted 
Indians insisted upon its payment. 

It is proved and allowed. 



No. 113. 

MIRIAM, STEPHENS & CO., $29,88 

There is no evidence whatever to support this claim, and it is 
therefore 

Disallowed. 



No. 114. 
DAVID P. BOURE, $2182,82 

Claimant was unable to procure the attendance of his witnesses, 
and he made oath that one of them has gone west of the Mississip- 
pi, and the other refused to attend. Having no power to compel 
their attendance, I felt constrained to accept of the affidavits which 
he offered, which were ex parte, and were liable to the objection that 
no opportunity of a cross-examination was allowed. 

The claim consists of three items : 

One of $579,26, is not supported by any affidavit. 

One of $1136,63, turns out, upon examination, to have been all 
contracted prior to August 1835, excepting only $48,13. 

One of $466,94, contains $5 contracted prior to that date. 

Claimant signed the Register of 1835, by which he released the 
Indians from all claims prior to that date ; yet $1147,25, of the claim 
which he now presents, accrued before that time, and of course is 
barred by that paper. 

By that he was allowed $981, and received that year $345,25, 
and in 1836 $317, of Messrs. Ewing& Taber, and $400 of the five 
Commissioners, making $71,75 more than the amount allowed hira 
in 1836. 

The whole of the item of $579,26, must be disallowed (except 



86 

$6,50 admitted by Miss-in-a- go-qua,) because there is no evidence 
whatever to support it. 

The following is the result : 

Allowed on tlie claim of 8579,26 $6,50 

on the claim of 1130,03 48,13 

on the claim of 466,94 461,94 



Deduct over-payment of 1830, 
Allowed, 



516,57 
71,75 

$444,82 



No. 115. 
J. B. CHAPMAN, $1332,19 

This claim is not supported by evidence to support any thing 
more than a charge of $9. 

That sum only can be allowed, $9,00 



No. 116. 

COMPARET & COQUILLARD, $537,80 

In the settlement of August 1835, these claimants were allowed 
$675, but they now insist that their claim at that time was $1276, 
30, and that it was presented for an erroneous amount, because M. 
Comparet, who was the chief manager of the concern, was not pre- 
sent at that settlement. The claim of $1276,30 is proved, and by an 
examination of the claim presented in 1835, the error is manifest. 

My rule is, to consider the settlement of 1835 as conclusive against 
every thing but fraud and mistakes. This being a mistake, it ought 
to be corrected. 

The claim of 1835, was $1276,30 

Separate payment, $ 29,00 

Pavmentin 1835, 336,00 

bo. in 1836, 



400,00 



There are additional items proved, 
And liquor items in the bill. 



Allowed, 



$26,50 
48,00 



765,00 
$511,30 



21,50 

$489,80 



87 

No. 117. 

THOMAS J. CUMMINGS, $1144,00 

Tills claim is supported by several notes. The most important of 
wliich is, a note signed by several of the Chiefs for $1000, and 
dated Aug. 23, 1835. The note was for tailoring done at the request 
of Joseph Barron, and claimant had Barron's note for $1080, which 
he gave up when Barron gave him the note in question. 

Independent of all other considerations, it will be seen that both 
Cuinniing-s and Barron signed the Register dated on the 22d Aug. 
1835, and both thereby released the Indians, in consideration of the 
sums then allowed, from all claims prior to that date. The whole 
of tliis debt was contracted prior to that date, and is barred by 
that act. 

The residue of the account is proved, subject, however, to the fol- 
lowing deductions : 

No. 2 of the vouchers is for $200 for a horse, which the subscrib- 
ing witness to the note says was worth only $100. 

No. f^, Joseph Morelan's note, $10, is withdrawn. In 1836 claim- 
ant received of the live Commissioners $300, which he now wishes 
to have applied on the $1000 note. As that note is not a debt, as 
I have already shown, this application of that money would be 
manifestly unjust. 

Whole Debt, $1448,00 

Deduct the note for $1000 

On No. 2, 100 

The whole of No. 5, 10 

The payment of 1836, 300 

1410,00 



Leaving due, and allowed, $38,00 

While the eveidence before me compels me to the decision that 
the $1000 is not owing by the Indians to Mr. Cumniings, I feel 
myself bound to say that I believe that he has not received his pay ; 
and that Barron unquestionably has had the benefit of the claim, in 
some f)f thelaro-e allowances which have been yearly made to him. 
He ought to be made to pay it to this clannant. 



No. 118. 

JOHN GREEN, $144,50 

This is another casein which Barron has obtained property on 
tbe credit of the Indians without their consent. The account for 
goods delivered to him for his own benefit, and for the Indians, is all 
kept together. He admits that $57,75 is exclusively for him. It 
is a matter of regret that this course has been so generally pursued, 
for the result is, either that the Indians pay for the goods twice, or 
the actual claimant loses it. 



88 

The claim is 8144,50 

Deduct payment by Commissioners iu 1836 $50,00 
J. Barron's account, 57,75 



107,75 



Allowed, $36,25 



No. 119. 
SAMUEL CHAPPEL. «11,50 

This claim, though small, must be governed by the same rules 
which control my action in larger cases. There is no evidence to 
support it, except merely notes Off hand, vs'hich do not even specify 
the consideration. 

They must be disalloioed. 



.No. 120. 

EBENEZER WARD, $50,00 

No. 126. 

WILLIAM POLKE. $100,00 

These gentlemen attended before me as witnesses in my investi- 
gations at my request, and that of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs. They were two of the 5 Commissioners who distributed 
the money in 1836. Their attendance was material and advanta- 
geous to the Indians. Their charges are reasonable, and are al- 
lowed. 



No. 121. 

THOMAS H. McKEAN. $20,00 

This is a note for bread and cash furnished to an educated In- 
dian. The execution is proved. 

Allowed. 



No. 122. 

PIERRE LAPLANTE. $1140 

This is a general charge against the Potawatamie Nation for 
" sundry merchandize, horses, lead, powder, &:c. to different indi- 
viduals of said nation, from A. D. 1815 to 1820," and is supported 
by no evidence whatever. 

Disallowed. 



89 



No. 123. 

ELPREGE & ANDERSON, $198,52 

These claimants seem entirely to misunderstand the condition of 
their claim. They state it thus : — 

Balance due on old ace. adjusted 1835, $200 00 

2 notes on Kewa^a and others, 198 52 



398 52 
Rec'd on the above ace. of Com'rs at Judge Polke's, 200 00 



Which is the balance they claim, 198 52 

i But in 1836 they received of Ewing & Taber, 200 00 

And they are over-paid, $1 48 

They also state in tlieir affidavit, that the sum of $200, received 
at the payment of 1836, was in full of their claims prior to the pay- 
ment in 1835. Their claim subsequent to that time is $198,52, 
and as they received $400 in 1836, of course they are already 
over-paid. 



No. 124. 

BENJAMIN TALBOT, $210 00 

This claim is for work done as public blacksmith for these In- 
dians. His claim, it is evident from its face, is not against the 
Indians, but against the government or the late agent. 

Disallowed. 



No. 125. 

JAMES H. KINTNER, $70,75 

This additional claim for saddlery is admitted by the Indians 
under circumstances which leave no doubt of the justness of the 

claim. 

It is allowdd. 



No. 127. 

JOHN E. SCHWARZ, $5000 00 

This claimant, after having proved that he was a trader among 
the Potawatamies of the Wabash, and exhibiting invoices and re» 
turns of clerks, showing a large loss in that trade, rests his claim for 
an allowance upon the settlement made in Aug:jst, ie^^5. His name 

M 



90 

appears upon the Register of that date for $5000, and he then re- 
ceived $500 on his claim, and now asks for the balance. 

His claim rests upon the same principle which has already go- 
verned my action in several cases, in which I have given full sanc- 
tion to that settlement ; and hold it conclusive both for and against 
the Indians and the traders, excepting only in cases of fraud and 
mistake. None such appearing in this case, upon that principle the 
balance claimed must be allowed 

Allowed, $4500 00 



No. 128. 
CUMMINGS & CRADDOCK, $474 81 

This claim is supported by various notes of hand, the considera- 
tion of which is proved. 

The claimants withdraw No. 1 for $5, and No. 14 for $12 81, 
because not against Indians. No. 5 for $25, is not proved. They 
received $300 in 1836. 

Their claim is $474 81 

They received in 1836, $300 00 

They withdraw 17 81 

They do not prove 25 00 



342 81 



Allowed, $132 00 



No. 129. 
JOHN B. BOURE, $4000 00 

This claim is on a note dated 15th Nov. 1835, and of course pur- 
porting to have been executed then. It is signed by five Indians, 
the first named signed at the date ; the second a {ew weeks after, 
and the other three after my investigations begun, and in June, 
1837. There was no settlement of accounts when either signature 
was made to it, and it was drawn up for the purpose of being large 
enough to cover all his debts. 

No original entries are produced, nor any account of the items ; 
but it is supported only by evidence that claimant has traded with 
the Indians since 1832. 

Ash-kum, one of the signers, being interrogated about it, says 
that at one of Marshall's treaties, he and Washiona's widow got 
goods of claimant, and never paid for them. It is for this he signed 
the note. Claim No. 39, for $1600, is for the goods thus delivered, 
and of course it would not be right that they should be paid for 
twice. 

Po-ka.gos, another signer, says that he and his band got goods of 
claimant to the amount of $1000, and in 183G claimant received 
$1000 of the CoramissioDers. 



91 

By the Register of 1835 he was allowed and paid $599 ; but he 
says and proves by one witness, that he was not present at the pay. 
ment in 1835 ; that he did not sign the Register ; that his clerk put 
in his claim, received the money and signed his name ; but he put in 
the claim too small. 

The present claim is entirely for debts accruing prior to that 
time, but his misfortune is that he does not prove any indebtednesa 
except what has already been provided for, — that of Ash-kum by 
the allowance of No. 39, and that of Po-ka-gos by the payment of 
last year. 

He attempts to account for this difficulty by proving the loss of 
his books. His own affidavit and the testimony of his brother 
show that his books were stolen from him at the payment on the 
Tippecanoe in 1835. There is evidently a mistake as to the time, 
and his supplemental affidavit probably fixes the time of the loss 
correctly in 1834. 

But his affidavit shows, also, (hat his claim for goods sold prior 
to August, 1835, is no more than about $3000. He received that 
year $599, and $1000 in 1836, and is allowed $1600 under No. 39, 
which exceeds the amount at which he states the indebtedness for 
goods. The residue of the claim is for those services which all 
traders render in order to procure custom, and which are particu. 
larly commented upon and disallowed in No. 26. 

The whole claim must be disallowed. 



No. 130. 

CYRUS VIGUS, $890,75 

This claimant is a tavern keeper, and his account is principally 
for keeping Indians and their horses. 

The claims for 1835 and 1837, amounting to $472,50, are 
proved. 

There is no proof to support the account for 1833 and 1834, 
amounting to $418,25. Even if there was, it would be barred by 
the fact that Mr. Vigus signed the Register of 1835, and discharged 
the Fndians in full to that date. In 1836 he received of the Com- 
missioners $150. 

His claim is, $890,75 

Unsupported and barred, $418,25 

Received in 1838, 150,00 



566,25 



Allowed, $322,60 



No. 131. 
HARVEY HETH, $400 

This claim is clearly just ; but, being for depredations, it must be 



92 

presented to the Agent and the Indians, at the payment of their an- 
nuity, and its payment can there be enforced agreeable to the law 
of 1834. 

I cannot allow it to be paid out of this fund. 



No. 132. 
ANDREW JACKSON, $000 

This claimant is an Indian, and he presented this claim for kill- 
ing his aunt. There is no evidence in the case, except the state- 
ments of the Chiefs to me in council, and a note signed by some of 
the Chiefs. The note is signed by Pashpo, the principal Chief of 
the tribe; 0-ka-maus, the next Chief, and several others; and the 
Chiefs in council say they wish it paid, that they owe it to him. 

I am scarcely well enough acquainted with their manners and 
customs to give a satisfactory decision in this case. It is under- 
stood, however, to be a conventional arrangement in some of the 
tribes, in order to prevent the shedding of blood which grows out of 
private revenge and family feuds, that he who has committed homi- 
cide may buy his safety of the relatives of the deceased by a satisfac- 
tory present, — the Weregild of our Saxon ancestors, only volun- 
tary in its nature, and without yet having arrived at their perfection 
of graduating the price by the rank of the slain. 

The custom saves the effusion of blood, arc! deserves encourage- 
ment until some judicatory shall be established among them, whereby 
crimes may be punished legally, and private rec'ress become as unne- 
cessary as it is improper. 

This consideration commends this claim to our favor ; and, sup- 
ported as it is by the admission of the Chiefs in council that it was 
a just debt, and their request that it should be paid, I have deemed 
it advisable to allow it. 

The price is, of course, indefinite ; but the sum of $600 was fixed 
by the Chiefs. 

Allowed, $600 



No. 133. 
JESSE BUZAN, $46,00 

This claim is for cultivating fields for the Yellow River Band 
in 1834, and they and General Walter Wilson say it was then paid 
by General Marshall. 

Disallowed. 



9« 

No 134. 
ASH.KUM, $600 

This claim is of the same character with No. 132, but it is not 
supported by any admission of the Chiefs, They were consulted 
about it, and merely answered, that last year " Ashkum had wanted 
only $300, and now he wants more." 

This is an essential difference between the two cases, and this 
must be 

Disallowed. 



No. 135. 

JOHN R. MERRIT, $53,75 

This account has already been paid by the Government. 

Disallowed. 



No. 136. 
ALEXANDER LARAVV, $110,00 

There was no evidence to support this claim. It is not sworn to 
by claimant : but purports to be a note signed by Ash-kum, without 
a witness. Ash-kum handed me the paper, but did not say a word 
about it. 

It must be disallowed. 



No. 137. 

CICOTT & VAN NESS, $32,00 

This claim, being for borrowed money and flour, is well proved, 
and 

Allowed. 



No. 138. 

ABRAHAM BURNET, $900 

No. 139. 

JOHN C. BURNET, $900 

These claimants are educated Indians, speaking the English Ian- 
guage. They visited Washington with Ashkum and Checkaukose 
in February, 1837, and acted as their interpreters in making the 
treaty uf the 11th of that month. Their notes for the above amounti 



94 

were given on their return for their services. Their expenses were 
paid by Government, and Government agreed to pay the expenses 
of the treaty and of the delegation. 

If these claims are for expenses which the delegation were ne- 
cessarily incurred, tliey are chargable to the Government if any 
where. If they were presents from the Chiefs, they are not pro- 
perly just debts to be paid as such out of this fund. 
In either event they must be disallowed. 



No. 140. 

EDWARD V. CICOTT, $640 

This is a bond from Ashkum to claimant, in which he agrees to 
convey a section of land. It appears, however, that it was a gift 
from Ashkum, which cannot be enforced as a debt, and which Ash- 
kum himself has recalled twice; once by agreeing to sell the same 
section to G. W. Ewing & Bourne, and afterwards by conveying it 
to the U. S. 

It must be disallowed. 



No. 141. 
JAMES H. KINTNER, 836,90 

This additional claim is presented now, because the witness was 
not present at the examination of Kitner's former cases. The wit- 
ness, however, fully proves this claim, and 
It is allowed. 



No. 142. 
JOB B. ELDRIDGE,. $2,87 

This is proved, and allowed. 



No. 143. 

WILLIAMSON WRIGHT, $5,00 

This is for professional services, rendered by an attorney. The 
performance of the service, and the reasonableness of the charge, are 
proved. 

Allowed. 



96 

No. 144. , 

JEREMIAH DUNHAM, $43,00 

This is for two rifles, delivered on the order of Gen. Marshall, In. 
dian Agent, m October 1834. 

There are two reasons against its allowance : 

1st. It is a claim against Gen. Marshall or the Government, and 
ought to be paid by one of them. 

2d. Dunham signed the Register of August, 1835, and thereby 
discharged the Indians from all claims up to that date. 

Disallowed. 



No. 145. 
CHASE, TIPTON & STUART, $600,00 

On my arrival at Logansport, Col. Pepper informed me that some 
of the claimants had employed counsel to appear before me: and 
that he deemed it right to employ counsel for the Indians. I ac 
quiesced in the propriety of this course, and he employed the above, 
named gentlemen. They were all occupied, and laboriously so, do- 
ing the whole of my investigations. Less than three persons, of 
their industry and capacity, could not have performed the task 
which devolved upon them. It was well and faithfully done. Their 
services were well worth to them the amount of this claim ; and to 
the Indians they were worth much more. 

Allowed. 



No. 146. 
JOHN T. DOUGLASS. $108,00 

This claim has been paid by the Government. 

Disallowed. 



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v^^ 



